THRISSUR, June 13: Ruling out any effort by it for a third front for Lok Sabha elections, CPI-M today said it would however strive for a Left democratic alternative of regional parties for ‘adjustments’.
The front would only be a temporary arrangement based on (seat) ‘adjustments and tactics’ as part of the party’s electoral strategy, CPIM General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here.
Certain regional parties would not be fit to be included permanently in the proposed alternative front in view of their divergent policies and programmes, he added.
Replying to a question on a new non-Congress non-BJP front proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said no discussion in this regard had been held in CPI-M.
Karat, however, asserted “the question of having an alliance with the Trinamool Congress does not arise at all. Several CPM activists in West Bengal have been attacked by the Trinamool Congress workers,” he said.
On West Bengal CPI-M leaders’ reported idea of supporting the Congress on the lines of the UPA-I, he dismissed it as “a figment of imagination by the mediamen.’
Earlier, Karat delivered the inaugural address on ‘ Left Alternative for Indian Economy, Political Democracy and Society’ at nearby Ayyanthole in connection with the 104th birth anniversary of late party veteran E M S Namboodiripad.
Speaking to reporters in Palakkad, CPI-M polit bureau member Brinda Karat evaded a direct answer on the CPI(M)’s perspective on the possible emergence of a third front in the country and said her party viewed “alternative policies and politics” more important.
“Evolving alternative politics and policies against the Congress and the BJP is our goal and that is important,” she said when asked how the CPI(M) viewed the moves by some of the regional parties to build a third front ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
She said CPI(M) had good relations with most of the regional parties but declined to elaborate on how her party would become a factor in building an alternative coalition against the Congress and the BJP.
Brinda was in Palakkad to visit the Attappadi tribal belt in the area, where a large number of infant deaths due to malnutrition has been reported in recent months. (PTI)
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