Karat hints at tie-up with YSRCP

Hyderabad: CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday ruled out possibility of formation of a Third Front. He said that about 10 non-Congress, non-BJP parties were willing to come together for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to provide a viable alternative. He said AIADMK, JD(U), JD(S), BJD, Samajwadi Party, the Left and other parties may be part of the alliance.

As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, the CPI (M) is moving closer to YSR Congress Party.

Indicating this, Karat said YSRCP was a non-Congress secular party. When asked how CPM can think of having electoral understanding with YSRCP when its president is facing charges of corruption, Karat said, his party was not giving too much importance to graft charges against YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy. “One should ask Aam Aadmi Party regarding corruption charges. We go by YSRC as a non-Congress and secular outfit in the State.’

To a query about the Left party’s stand in Parliament on Telangana issue, the CPI (M) national leader reiterated that, “our party is against division of States formed on linguistic basis and our stand remains the same.” He however felt that the support of BJP has become very crucial for Congress party to get through Telangana bill in both houses of the parliament.

Karat was here to attend the two-day state committee meeting. On the Third Front, he said: "There is no Front as such. Nobody has talked about a Third Front. What we are trying to bring about is a combination of non-Congress, non-BJP parties. After the elections, whether we will give it some concrete shape, will depend on the election results. But we will cooperate for the Lok Sabha elections. How exactly we will cooperate is being worked out," he said.

The non-Congress, non-BJP parties would announce a "common approach" on February 5, the first day of the coming Parliament session, as a precursor to the emergence of the alternative combination of parties, he said.

The common approach could be on various issues that would be identified on Tuesday. "For example, UPA wants to push through various legislations. We don't think it is advisable. Because, normally the convention is the last session is only for a vote-on-account. But they want to bring in many other issues. On all those matters, these parties will announce a common stand," he said. Karat said they were yet to decide on how many seats to contest in other States like Andhra Pradesh, Tripura where the party would enter into alliances. He flayed BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for his pro-corporate and industrialists policy, which was similar to anti-poor policies of the UPA government. Corruption and scams like 2G and Coal occurred due to faulty financial policies of this government only, he pointed out. Karat said that AAP, which has no presence beyond New Delhi, could not be called as an alternative to Left.

It had no vision yet on financial policies that would dictate the future course of the nation, he said. "I don't know where the AAP is growing except in Delhi. In some States and some areas, may be they will be a substitute to other parties. But they cannot be a substitute to Left parties," he said.