E-Paper
People voted for a change in Bihar: Left
Left parties on Tuesday said the people had voted for a change in political leadership.
Acknowledging their defeat at the hustings in Bihar, Left parties on Tuesday said the people had voted for a change in political leadership, but CPI(M) held Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP responsible for a split in secular votes benefiting the JD(U)-BJP combine.
The CPI and the RSP strongly opposed reports about demands that Paswan be ousted from the ruling UPA coalition at the Centre for causing the secular votes to split.
"We do not subscribe to the view that Paswan should be thrown out. If any responsibility for the defeat is to be taken, it is the RJD leadership for 15 years of misdeeds", senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said when asked to comment on the demand for the LJP leader's ouster sometime ago.
CPI(M) Polit Buro member Sitaram Yechury maintained that division in "secular" votes by Paswan's LJP had benefited the "communal" forces and said "the people in Bihar have chosen for a change in political leadership ... The results clearly point to that".
However, the poll outcome would have no repercussions on the UPA coalition and the Government at the Centre, he said.
Yechury said nonetheless, there was bound to be some discussion within the UPA as the alliance partners were pitted against each other.
RSP leader Abani Roy also blamed RJD's "misrule" for the poll debacle and said even in the last assembly polls, "his egotistic attitude took the toll".
Roy also opposed the reported demand for removal of Paswan from UPA saying, "It is for the UPA to decide whom to keep. We are not part of the UPA and therefore do not have any say in such matters".
