For the first time, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded a candidate from South Mumbai, challenging the purported might of the Congress, Shiv Sena and the MNS, with party’s Central Secretariat member Shameem Faizee confidently stating that Left parties will ensure formation of a non-UPA and non-NDA government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.

Faizee who is also the editor of the party organ New Age Weekly, dismissed the much talked about ‘Third Front’ proposal.

“Let me clarify... there is no Third Front and nor are we clamouring to form a government at the Centre. We just want to ensure that there is a non-UPA and non-NDA government at the Centre (post elections).” The CPI has fielded four candidates in the key seats of Maharashtra–South Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Parbhani and Gadchiroli– where it feels it will make maximum impact to counter not just Congress but also what it calls the ‘Modi Mafia”.

In its assessment, the Modi bandwagon “is the new milking cow being bred by the corporate dictators.”

Pointing to the party manifesto, Faizee and Reddy said: “It is a myth that South Mumbai’s boulevards are dotted with people from affluent society ... the reality is that the region is saturated with invisible people living in hovels, eking out a life which with each passing day is becoming starker and life-snapping... all thanks to corporate dictated economic policies. The unfortunate development is that the media itself has become a tool of the corporate, the reason behind the mistaken perception that South Mumbai is a place where poverty and misery does not exist.”

Faizee, said: “The falsification of reality is being done in media at the behest of the corporate tycoons and everybody can see how the electronic media has created a spectacle of Modi-wave and that is why we have declared that we will reduce the corporate clout in media and will push for abolishing of the contract system imposed on journalists by media owners and ensure implementation of the Wage Board Awards which will also help in restoring freedom of expression.”