Left gives us an idea of third alternative

NEW DELHI: The Communist parties are pinning their hopes on every non-UPA, non-NDA force to back their plans of putting up a grand electoral alternative at the Centre, but in four states���Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi ��� the CPM and CPI themselves have failed to reach a complete understanding on assembly seats.

The two left parties, which are clashing in over 10 assembly seats in these states, are trying to play down the lack of co-ordination saying the Left was not a force in these places and the seats where the CPM and CPI were both putting up candidates were not crucial.

While in Rajasthan there would be a clash on five seats, in Chhattisgarh, where the Left has no representative in the assembly at present, the CPM and CPI candidates would be pitted against each other in four seats. In Madhya Pradesh, both the parties are fighting the same seat in Singrauli, an emerging energy hub of the country, and in Delhi the CPM and CPI are clashing in Okhla.

Left sources said this happened because local units of both parties insisted on running for those particular seats. The CPM has a member each in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assemblies, but the CPI has none. Sikar district���s Dhod, the lone seat the Left has in Rajasthan, has become a reserved constituency after the delimitation process.

In Chhattisgarh, the CPI, which has formed a front with Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party is fighting 38 seats and the CPM just seven.