PATNA: CPI(ML) is not averse to aligning with the RJD led by Lalu Prasad, said the general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, on Sunday. He called CM Nitish Kumar a “spent force” and also said “Modishahi” (autocratic rule of PM Narendra Modi) was the greatest danger to the Constitution and country’s democratic practice.“Nitish did have an image of his own, but he himself destroyed that by compromising with the mandate and embracing the BJP,” Dipankar said on the sidelines of his party’s organizational meet here.“In fact, it is futile to talk about him (Nitish) and his role in future. He can make a number of somersaults which can be rewarding in athletics, but not in politics,” Dipankar said.He maintained that among all the political parties, only the Left groups have been consistent in their struggle against “Modishahi and only the RJD has taken a consistent line against it”. The party’s state secretary Kunal accompanied him.Dipankar told the party workers that it had become incumbent upon the Left to align with the non-Left political entities for the “short-term aim of ending the rule of PM Modi”, but the CPI(ML)’s long-term commitment to socialism, class struggle fight against “all kinds of ruling ideologies” would continue.He said former President Pranab Mukherjee’s address at the RSS function had left the Congress demoralized. “The Congress has to decide if it would align with the Left and the non-Left parties against ‘Modishahi’ in the country,” he said.Dipankar said the important question was not what Pranab said at the RSS function, but that if the RSS would “show similar magnanimity to also invite former vice-president Hamid Ansari”. “Everyone knows what they did to him recently in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.Dipankar said the 2019 parliamentary elections would be fought on the issues and problems facing the farmers. “For the first time, they went on strike this month,” he said and called upon people to protest strongly against targeted attacks on dalits and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, linking citizenship with religion.The CPI(ML) would organize 10-day protests down to the block level till June 20, followed by its women workers on June 22 and finally the ‘rasta roko’ programme on June 23.Earlier in the day, Dipankar made a courtesy call on Lalu to “inquire about his health”.

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