After Ramlila Rally: DMK Backs INDIA Bloc, CPI(M) Rules Out TMC Tie

Two INDIA bloc partners spelled out where they stand a day after the alliance’s rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan told ANI on Monday, 2 November, that his party is “against Gyanesh Kumar”, the Chief Election Commissioner, and will take the fight to Parliament. In Kolkata on Sunday, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said sharing a platform with the Trinamool Congress in Delhi is no sign of an alliance in West Bengal, PTI reported.

DMK Plans to Raise CEC Issue in the House

Elangovan said the DMK shares the bloc’s position. “Whatever the INDIA alliance party has done, ideologically we have the same policy,” he said, according to ANI. On the Parliament plan, he said: “When the matter comes before the Parliament, we will fight for it.” No session dates were mentioned in the report.

At the rally, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said Gyanesh Kumar “will be removed from the post of Chief Election Commissioner”. IPB covered the speeches in What Kharge, Tejashwi, Akhilesh and Left Leaders Said.

Also read INDIA Bloc Ramlila Maidan Rally: Rahul, Kharge Press for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s Removal

CPI(M) Keeps Bengal Separate From Delhi

Chakraborty said everyone opposing the alleged “vote chori” by the BJP joined the Ramlila Maidan rally, but that standing together in Delhi does not mean any tie-up with the TMC in Kolkata. He described the TMC as “broken”, a reference to the split in the party after its assembly election defeat. One faction is headed by Mamata Banerjee and the other by Ritabrata Banerjee, and some of its MPs have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, PTI said.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh responded that it was a matter of concern how successful joint non-BJP events would be without cooperation at the local level. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had alleged on Saturday that the CPI(M) and the TMC had come together to create anarchy in the state.

Parliament Session Will Test the Bloc

The rally was held against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision. The charges the bloc has laid against the CEC are set out in The Six Charges Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar. How the DMK and others act in the House will depend on when the next session is called, which has not been announced in these reports. In Bengal, no seat-sharing talks between the CPI(M) and the TMC have been reported. More on Daily Updates.

Source: Based on reporting by PTI via The Week and ANI via Asianet Newsable.

Image: INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan, Delhi (file image used in IPB’s earlier coverage).