Wednesday, September 21 2005 20:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: After Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)'s decision to join hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in Bihar, efforts for Left unity suffered another setback today (Sept 21, 2005) with the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) expressing displeasure over the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) announcing a poll pact without taking it into confidence.

''We want the CPI to clear the confusion over alliance with our party which was almost finalised and only a formal announcement was waiting to be made,'' CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told a press conference and said that the announcement of a poll tie-up between LJP and CPI violated 'political principles'.

He revealed that as per a seat-sharing formula chalked out between the CPI-ML and CPI, the former was to contest 73 seats and the latter 54.

''The CPI must make it clear what would become of the alliance between us so that the confusion created by the announcement of LJP-CPI tie-up is cleared,'' he said.

Asked if he would join the CPI-LJP alliance if the latter agreed not to field its nominees in 73 constituencies the CPI-ML proposed to contest, he said that the CPI should first clarify its position.

Bhattacharya said that though the CPI-ML favoured electoral alliances with like-minded parties, it wanted it to be done in a transparent manner. ''What CPI has done is against political principles. In fact, it is violation of political principles.''

The CPI-ML leader said, ''Fighting elections while remaining in the UPA and continuing his friendship with the Congress can be the political compulsion for Paswan, but we are not going to change our anti-RJD, anti-Congress and anti-BJP stand''.