Date:08/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/08/stories/2009050855411200.htm

National

Karat to meet Naveen

Special Correspondent

Prakash Karat

NEW DELHI: Taking forward plans to shape a non-Congress secular government at the Centre in the 15th Lok Sabha, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat is travelling to Bhubaneswar, Orissa on Friday.

Mr. Karat, who arrived here on Thursday from Chennai to cast his vote in Delhi, leaves for Orissa for a meeting with the Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik, who snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party just before the polls.

Earlier, he had a meeting with the Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, which hopes to come to power in Andhra Pradesh through the grand alliance of parties including the Left and the Telengana Rashtra Samiti.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote Mr. Karat said the CPI (M) is “working to see that there is a non-Congress secular government at the Centre.”

His comments came hours after CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told news channels that all matters relating to post-poll alliances would be discussed after the results are out. “Till then our objective is to form a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre.”

An editorial in the latest issue of party organ, People’s Democracy, said the indispensability of the Left in the current political situation had been articulated from other quarters as well. These include the current allies of the BJP, like the JD (U), and the Congress, like the NCP and others.

However, the party said its reason for withdrawing its outside support to the UPA government on the nuclear deal stood vindicated now by the latest pronouncement by the U.S. administration itself.

It referred to the statement by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller to the preparatory committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference at the UN headquarters that “Universal adherence to the NPT itself – including India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea – remains a fundamental objective of the U.S.”

“Now it is clear that while cementing the India-U.S. nuclear deal, the UPA government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, has virtually surrendered to U.S. imperialist pressures and committed India to ratify the NPT. This is tantamount to a complete negation of India’s traditional proclamations of seeking universal nuclear disarmament and not allowing a discriminatory monopoly of nuclear weapons by the P-5.”