Money power won’t win elections in south, says CPM Politburo member

Elections in southern States cannot be won with money power, said CPI (M) Politburo member K. Balakrishnan, in an apparent dig at the ruling BJP, which is in a coalition government with the AINRC led by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy in Puducherry.

Addressing the media, the CPM leader said, “Some people think that they can win elections solely with money. That will not work. The idea that the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry can be bought with money is impractical”.

Stating that the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu that included the Left parties was strong, Mr. Balakrishnan believed that the BJP-AIADMK alliance would come a cropper in the upcoming Assembly elections. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they end up in third place in the elections”, he remarked.

On the businessman Jose Charles Martin launching a political party — the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK) —in Puducherry recently, Mr. Balakrishnan speculated that the outfit could be a proxy of the BJP as the founder’s support for the saffron party was quite evident in its operations across the country. While the objective of the move was unclear, the CPM leader wondered if it was to hedge against the possibility of Mr. Rangasamy leaving the alliance after the 2026 elections.

Beyond the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from one of the flagship schemes (MGNREGA) that had triggered outrage across India, the Centre also changed the funding pattern of the scheme to the detriment of States via a Bill pushed through the House, he said.

The Left parties in Tamil Nadu, along with the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) will hold a State-wide protest against this on December 23.

The CPM would ramp up protests against the AINRC-BJP government that was mired in several corruption scandals, that included a spurious drug manufacturing racket which came to light recently, he added. A siege to the Assembly on January 5 was part of a campaign to highlight instances of corruption in addition to a host of issues such as the steep increase in electricity tariffs.