The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday said they will not tie up with the Congress for the state’s upcoming elections. PTI reported that Politburo member Subhashini Ali put rumours of an alliance to a rest and said the CPI(M) will not form any front with the Congress either. Ali also criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government for the rising numbers of farmers committing suicide. She said that such suicides have gone up because of the government headed by Narendra Modi and his “anti-farmer policies”.

“The NDA government is pursuing anti-farmer policies and has drastically reduced fertilisers subsidy to farmers in the budget, which the saffron party touted and claimed was pro-farmers,” she said. She also added that funding under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act had been all but stopped, and said the BJP government had reduced spending on Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe people.