KOLKATA: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in the course of its two-day deliberations here on the coming Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory, has concluded that "the Congress party is willing to enter into a covert understanding with the communal forces" where polls are to be held.

"The CPI (M) is out to expose such covert, unofficial understandings of the Congress with the Bharatiya Janata Party," party general secretary Prakash Karat said, at the conclusion of the Polit Bureau meeting on Friday.

"In West Bengal there is talk of [the Congress] having unofficial adjustments with the Trinamool Congress-BJP alliance," Mr. Karat said. The CPI(M), which has finalised its list of candidates for the elections in the State, will discuss the total list of Left Front candidates with the other constituents of the Front on February 16. "The party will wholeheartedly work for the formation of the seventh Left Front government in the State", he said.

"In the case of Kerala, all the caste and communal forces including the BJP-RSS are sought to be mobilised in support of the United Democratic Front [UDF]. The party is ready to counter any such move for an anti-Left combination whether overt or covert... Here we are confident that the Left Democratic Front [LDF] will win the election though it is not just a question of winning but securing a decisive victory and a comprehensive defeat of the UDF', Mr. Karat said. The Polit Bureau would finalise the tactics to be pursued in the State in consultation with the CPI (M)'s Kerala state committee, he added.

`Cooperating with DMK'

In Tamil Nadu, Mr. Karat said, the CPI (M) was "cooperating with the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance and would like to immediately go into a seat-sharing agreement with the DMK. The party's state secretariat has been asked to finalise the arrangement." Emphasis would be laid on "increasing our independent strength in the Tamil Nadu Assembly," he said, adding that "the situation in Pondicherry is similar."

The Polit Bureau also discussed the election tactics to be pursued in Assam where the CPI(M), along with other Left parties, would be fighting both the Congress and the BJP.

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