The two communist parties – CPM and CPI — have decided to contest from 17 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the coming Parliament elections.

A decision was taken in this regard after leaders of the tow parties met in Chennai. The meeting, which lasted just 15 minutes, also decided that both the parties will announce the list of candidates in a day or two.

 As per the agreement, the CPM would contest from Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai North, Trichy, Dindigul,Virudhunagar, Thanjavur, Kanyakumari and Villupuram constituencies.

The CPI will put up candidates in Nagapattinam, Tenkasi, Tiruppur, Sivaganga, Dharmapuri, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

In the 2009 elections, the two parties contested from three seats each after a deal was struck with Jayalalitha-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Initially AIADMK and the two communist parties had announced that they would fight the elections as allies.

However, the alliance broke as AIADMK refused to share more than one seat each to the left parties.

Annoyed with AIADMK’s “one sided” decision to field candidates in all the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the CPM and the CPI have decided to go it alone in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.