Date:11/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011160320800.htm

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No tie-up with BSP for elections: Karat

C. Gouridasan Nair

Prakash Karat

KOCHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has ruled out the possibility of an electoral understanding between the Left and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

“There will be no electoral understanding with the BSP because they have declared that they are not interested in any electoral understanding. We are talking to the BSP to come together on issues of common interest. We consider them to be part of the non-BJP, non-Congress camp and they have assured us that they will be part of the campaign on issues of common interest,” Mr. Karat said, briefing reporters on the three-day CPI(M) central committee meeting here on Saturday.

Mr. Karat said the coming few weeks would indicate what shape the non-BJP, non-Congress alliance that the Left had been striving for would take.

The Left had already entered into an understanding with parties such as the TDP, AIADMK and the JD(S). It would now focus on other parties and groups.

The non-Congress, non-BJP parties were a substantial force and the CPI(M) was determined to pursue the goal of bringing them together on the principles of independent foreign policy, secularism and pro-people economic policies.

In Bihar, discussions were on between the CPI(M)-CPI combine and the CPI(ML). Besides, some of the parties which were part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) were also likely to join this formation.

For instance, the Telugu Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Andhra Pradesh was in dialogue with the TDP. The two Left parties would work closely in the elections and every effort would be made to ensure that the CPI(M) and CPI do not contest against each other.

Mr. Karat said the party central committee had finalised the seats to be contested from the various States and given necessary directions to the State units for preparation in these constituencies. He said the by-election outcome in Nandigram did not reflect the general scene in West Bengal.