CPI-ML to contest 12 seats if fails to get respectable numbers

Ranchi: CPI-ML national general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that his party was ready for an alliance but till now no formal talks over the seat sharing has been initiated.

Addressing a press conference here he said that the left parties were cheated during the Lok Sabha elections.

He said that CPI-ML will demand for 5 seats and if it fails to get so it would be contesting on 12 seats in the state. Mr Bhattacharya said that if an alliance can be worked out with other parties in the opposition then it was alright for the parties or else the left parties would try to jointly contest the Assembly elections in Jharkhand as no alliance in Jharkhand can be formed leaving behind the left parties.

He said he was highly surprised by the decision of the election commission to conduct assembly polls in Jharkhand in five phases as when in a big state like Maharashtra the elections can be conducted in one phase then what was the need to conduct the elections in Jharkhand in five phases is something which he has failed to understand.

He said that the strength of the Maharashtra assembly is three times more than the Jharkhand assembly despite that the decision of the election commission was surprising.

He said that the decision of the election commission makes one thing clear that the figures related to the LWE areas which have been presented before the commission by the state government the decision has been taken on that basis contrary to the claims of the Chief Minister that maoists were breathing their last in the state.