Lok Sabha polls | Left leaders in Mahe will not extend support to Congress candidate for Puducherry

Political rift between Congress and Left in Kerala extends to Puducherry's Mahe, impacting support for Lok Sabha candidate.

The bitter political fight between Congress and the Left in Kerala has cast its shadow on the political landscape of the Union Territory’s enclave of Mahe, situated close to Kerala’s Kannur and Kozhikode districts.

Cadres of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Mahe and are not on the same page with their counterparts in the rest of the Union Territory, when it comes to extending support to Congress candidate V. Vaithilingam for the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat.

The Congress is contesting in Puducherry, as part of the DMK’s alliance in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, under the INDIA bloc.

While the leaders of CPI and CPI (M) in Puducherry are vigorously campaigning for Mr. Vaithilingam, their Left counterparts in Mahe have decided to abstain from the campaign and have, in fact, decided to vote for an Independent.

According to a senior functionary of the CPI (M) in Mahe, the party’s local unit has already communicated to the party leadership in Puducherry that workers will not be campaigning or voting for Mr. Vaithilingam. 

“We are attached to the party’s Kannur district secretariat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls also, we did not work for Mr. Vaithilingam instead we voted for Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam. This time too , we cannot openly campaign for the candidate as it will dilute our fight with the Congress in the neighbouring districts of Kerala. As of now, we have decided to support an Independent,” he said.

In the recent times, comrades of Puducherry and Mahe have only voted in unison during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when CPI’s R. Viswanathan contested the Parliamentary elections on a party ticket . Of the around 16,000 votes Mr. Viswanathan garnered, around 6, 000 came from Mahe, said a party leader.