New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) Caught in an uneasy truce with the Congress over the India-US nuclear deal and economic policies, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday said it was eager to form a “third alternative”.
Addressing a press conference here, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said his party was ready to forge a “third alternative” of parties with a common policy, distinct from those of the Congress and the BJP.
“The Left parties and (particularly) the CPI-M have a responsibility for initiating the process of formation of a third alternative. We do not want a situation where there is a Congress-led combination and a BJP-led combination. Neither do we agree with the policies pursued by these two parties,” said Karat.
While releasing the draft political resolution ahead of the party’s 19th congress in Coimbatore from March 29, Karat said, “The party will continue to adopt tactics for isolating and defeating the BJP.
“It will not enter into any alliance or united front with the Congress,” he added.
For emergence of a third political force, non-Congress, non-BJP parties will have to reach an understanding with the Left on economic policies, which have to be different from those of the Congress or the BJP, said Karat.
Additionally, the third alternative will also lay more emphasis on the social sector and be committed to the national sovereignty with an independent foreign policy, said Karat, who was flanked by his politburo colleagues, including Sitaram Yechury.
Karat said the CPI-M “differentiates between the BJP and the Congress, considering the latter as a secular bourgeois party though it often vacillates when communal forces take the offensive”.
He said the third alternative should not be reduced to a mere electoral alliance, though the CPI-M would continue to have electoral adjustments and alliances wherever required.