CPI leaders to take the field

CPI stalwarts including A B Bardhan will soon be joining the election campaign in Maharashtra.

 The party has fielded up to 33 candidates in the state and wishes to take the opportunity to campaign against the “pro-corporate and Hindutva” agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to official sources of the party, the party stalwarts will join the campaign this week and tour the state. They include senior party leaders A B Bardhan, general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, national secretaries Shamim Faizi and Atul Anjan. Bardhan will address a rally in Nagpur, his home town, on October 11. 

The party has put up a maximum number of its candidates in Vidarbha. It has fielded candidates in 11 seats in the region, which is infamous for the suicides of farmers.

 Marathwada is second on the list.  It has fielded candidates in 8 seats in the region. B K Kango, father of film actor Mayuri Kango, is contesting from the Aurangabad (East) seat in the region. 

The CPI, which has been powerful in parts of Maharashtra especially in Mumbai during early years of independence, can hardly count on winning any seat this time. However, the party has taken up the slogan “We will fight…we will win”.  In Mumbai, it is contesting only on four seats. 

The party is publicising the list of candidates whom the BJP has imported from other parties. The list is a big one and has 51 names on it.