Left unity will not be affected by Prez polls, says CPI(M)

Kolkata: The CPI(M) today said that Left unity would not be affected in any way because of the RSP and CPI not supporting the candidature of UPA’s Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee. “Despite the RSP and the CPI having taken a different stand on the issue, the unity of the Left, particularly Left front, will not be affected in anyway,” CPI(M) leader and Leader of the Oppositon in West Bengal Assembly Suryakanta Mishra told reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_372513” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bengal CPI(M) leader Suryakanta Mishra said that Left unity will not be affected by Prez polls.[/caption] Several members of CPI(M), Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party and DSP, which have extended support to Mukherjee’s candidature, had a meeting with Mukherjee in the Assmebly premises. Mishra, however, said that supporting the UPA’s Presidential candidate did not mean that the Left and the democratic movement against the Centre’s “anti-people” policies, would be relaxed. “The Left and the democratic movement do not depend in anyway on the issue of support to UPA’s presidential candidate,” he said. To a question, he said that Mukherjee met MPs and MLAs of the CPI(M) and Forward Bloc and MLAs of DSP and Samajwadi Party and thanked them for extending support to him. “We also thanked him for meeting us,” Mishra said. On Trinamool Congress-Congress tussle issue helping the CPI(M) as well as the Left, Mishra said, “Such a difference has been brewing for a long time and we knew that any rainbow alliance will not be permanent. “However, the CPI(M) will not depend on what will happen to the ties between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress. We depend on our own strength and our own plans and programmes,” the CPI(M) leader said. PTI