Hyderabad: Regional and Left parties are working for a majority on their own in the next Lok Sabha, sans support from Congress or BJP, senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said on Monday.
"No, I am saying that the number of other parties, excluding Congress and BJP, will be substantial enough and such scope for blackmail by Congress or the BJP won't be there. We are working for a majority without the Congress or the BJP," he told PTI in Hyderabad.
He was asked whether the Left would want the Congress to be part of the government or extend support to the regional- Left combination. Yechury said earlier experiences of stability of regional parties' coalition like the United Front or the one led by VP Singh had shown that these governments depended either on the Congress or the BJP which withdrew support causing the governments to fall.
On whether such a front was strongly in the reckoning for power at the Centre, the CPI(M) leader said, "We are working towards this. We are working for a non-Congress, non-BJP political combination and its objective should be to implement alternative policies.
"It is not only political combination for power in the sense of just forming government. It's a combination for implementing alternative policies."
Asked about "inherent contradictions" in such a combination as SP-BSP, CPI(M)-TMC or DMK-AIADMK could not join the same platform, Yechury said, "That's why I am saying, all these issues will be discussed post-elections. That's our objective."
The CPI(M) leader recalled that every ruling coalition was formed after the elections, including the UPA, the NDA and the United Front. "I think in 2014 also, it will also be the same - a coalition to be formed after the elections," he said.
To a question whether the Congress or the BJP could be trusted after the experience of governments led by Charan Singh, VP Singh, Deve Gowda and IK Gujral, Yechury said that would again depend on the actual numbers.
"Instability of the VP Singh or Deve Gowda governments and others, all of them had to depend on outside support of the Congress or in the case of VP Singh also of BJP, and it's only the Congress or BJP which withdrew support."
"So, the ideal situation is and we would like to work for is a combination which does not have to rely on outside support," Yechury said.
Asked whether they would have to join hands with Congress to prevent BJP from coming to power, he said, "No. I don't think such a situation will arise."
On whether such a front would get majority on its own, the CPI(M) leader said "that's why I am saying all these issues will be discussed post-election. It will depend on the results."
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