Left, Cong to go for 'local level' adjustments in Tripura panchayat polls: CPI(M) leader

Agartala, June 23 (PTI) Tripura CPI(M) leader Jitendra Chaudhury on Sunday said the Left parties will pursue "local level" adjustments with the Congress and like-minded parties to take on the BJP in the three-tier panchayat elections likely to be held in August.

In last year's Assembly elections and the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) had formed an electoral understanding with the Congress, but failed to defeat the saffron party and its allies.

"Discussions are ongoing at the local level — blocks and districts — to ensure that all democratic forces can contest the elections in all seats. The party with a strong base in a particular area will contest the elections in those panchayats," Chaudhury, the CPI(M) state secretary, told reporters.

Earlier, Tripura Pradesh Congress president Asish Kumar Saha also supported this approach, stating there will be local-level adjustments between the Congress and Left parties in the panchayat elections.

Chaudhury said a delegation of Left parties will soon meet the state election commission to demand free, fair, and peaceful panchayat elections.

The Congress has already called for the facilitation of online nomination submissions in the rural polls, as opposition parties could not submit their papers in 90 per cent of panchayats in the last election.

Criticising the BJP-led government's alleged anti-people policies, the opposition leader said the CPI(M) will launch a statewide agitation at the district and subdivision levels to raise awareness.

"People living in rural areas are leading miserable lives. The government has shut down many schools when more educational institutions are needed. All these issues will be highlighted in the agitation to be held on June 26 in Agartala," he said. PTI PS MNB