CPI brushes aside Congress leader Oommen Chandy's bid to woo it into UDF fold

Kochi: The CPI on Monday brushed aside senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy’s apparent bid to woo it into the Kerala’s Congress-led UDF fold, saying the Left party’s “commitment” to the LDF is “unquestionable.” [caption id=“attachment_2613518” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Oommen Chandy. PTI[/caption] CPI national executive member Binoy Viswam said it is “unthinkable” for the party to go for a political alliance with the Congress “as long as it remains wedded with the pro-corporate policies of globalisation.” He said this a day after former Kerala chief minister Chandy hailed the stand taken by the CPI, a key partner in the CPM-led LDF, on the issue of clearing encroachments from the government land and stated that the people still cherish the party’s alliance with CPI in Kerala in the 70s. Responding to a query on CPI joining hands with the Congress, Viswam told PTI that the party’s “commitment to the LDF is unquestionable as it is founded on a strong political and ideological base.” “It is Chandy’s day-dreaming,” the CPI leader said. The former Kerala minister also alleged that it was the  Congress-led UDF which turned Munnar, a tourist hill station in Idukki district, into a heaven for land grabbers. Chandy had on Sunday hailed the CPI’s stand on various administrative issues and criticised those of the CPM, especially on the issue of removal of encroachments on government land. Lauding CPI’s stand on the issue, he had said the key partner in the ruling LDF was “speaking the language of the people of Kerala.” Asked if the Congress planned to invite CPI into the UDF fold, the former chief minister had said people still cherish the era of the party’s alliance with CPI in Kerala in the 1970s. The CPI had ruled Kerala during the 70s with the support of the Congress. Chandy’s statement came amid the growing differences between CPM and CPI over various administrative affairs, including that on the CPI-controlled Revenue Department’s drive against encroachers of the government land at Munnar hills. The CPM had expressed displeasure over the department’s anti-encroachment drive at Munnar in April last, during which a 30-feet tall metal cross was pulled down.