"There will be local bodies polls by year end. It will be a sort of semi-finals to the assembly elections," he told newspersons here.
Yechury said the Left Front is unitedly making preparations for the assembly elections.
"...Preparations are on," he said in response to a question
on the preparations for the assembly polls next year.
His remarks came against the backdrop of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging BJP, CPI-M and Congress to come together and asserting her party Trinamool Congress would go it alone and defeat them.
She had accused the CPI-M of doing nothing for the state during its 34-year rule.
"Whatever was left of the party (CPI-M) is now over as it has sold itself to BJP. TMC will not bow down to BJP, neither to Congress nor CPI-M," she had said.