Vijay’s TVK faces setback as Left parties decide to go solo in Tamil Nadu bypolls

CHENNAI: The Left parties in Tamil Nadu have decided to contest the upcoming by-elections independently, keeping themselves out of the major alliances. The decision comes as a setback to Vijay’s TVK, which has formed an alliance with other parties.

The CPM will contest from Madurantakam, while the CPI will field its candidate in Dharapuram. CPM state secretary P Shanmugam said the candidates would be introduced at a meeting of the state secretaries of the CPM, CPI and CPI(ML) Liberation in Chennai on September 15.

The Left parties have criticised the by-elections as polls that were forced upon the people. They said the decision by AIADMK MLAs to resign 20 days after winning the Assembly elections was completely wrong and represented an unhealthy trend, adding that there was no justification for the resignations.

The Left parties said they had extended support to the TVK government from outside to oppose communal forces. They also clarified that their decision to contest the by-elections would not pose a threat to the survival of the government and that they would continue to extend outside support to it.
The Congress has not yet clarified its position on contesting the by-elections.