March 5, 2004
Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Members of the Secretariat of the Bihar State Committee of the CPI(M) met with the CPI(M) General Secretary and other members of the Polit Bureau in New Delhi today to discuss the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Bihar.
In Bihar the CPI(M) had aligned with the RJD in order to defeat the communal forces led by the BJP in the state. This was based on the understanding that the RJD is the main secular force in the state which can defeat the communal combination led by the BJP.
The CPI(M) continues to adhere to this understanding. This was so even at a time when many other secular parties had deserted the RJD in the past elections.
During the past few general elections, the CPI(M) had contested a minimum of two Lok Sabha seats in alliance with the RJD in the then Northern Bihar. On this occasion as well the CPI(M) has decided to recontest its sitting seat in Bhagalpur and indicated that it would contest in alliance with the RJD in one of the following five seats: Samastipur, Madhepura, Jhanjarpur, Nawadah, Bettiah.
Unfortunately, till date there has not been any positive response from the RJD. The CPI(M) considers that the matter should be decided without any further delay.
This is all the more necessary in the background of the recent tirade declared by the Union Defence Minister that the NDA would seek the people’s vote in order to dismiss the Rabri Devi government in Bihar and impose president’s rule. Such a brazen anti-democratic statement is seeking people’s mandate in order to negate the very same people’s earlier mandate in the assembly elections which installed the Rabri Devi led RJD government in Bihar.
Under these circumstances, it is essential that the RJD must adhere to the arrangement which was arrived at earlier so that the fight against communal forces is carried forward.