By IANS
New Delhi: Despite the Left parties set to vote along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) on the India-US civilian nuclear deal later this month, senior Communist leader Sitaram Yechuri Sunday did not rule out aligning again with the Congress after the next general elections.
Yechuri said his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), along with other left parties, can again support the Congress after the next general elections to keep the BJP out of power.
“It is a possibility,” Yechuri told news channel IBN7 when asked whether the Left would again support a Congress-led coalition to keep the BJP out of power if the next general elections once again throw up a hung house.
Yechuri, however, added: “My party will consider such a scenario with caution.”
Any new alliance with the Congress would be forged on the basis of the “Left’s experience of working with the Congress for the last four years,” he said.
Yechuri further made clear that the nuclear deal would loom large over any new relationship the Left has with the Congress.
“The new relationship will be defined in the nuke deal shadow,” Yechuri said.
The senior CPI-M leader talked of the post-poll scenario with IBN7 Managing Editor Ashutosh for the channel’s ‘Hot Seat’ programme, telecast Sunday at 7.30 p.m.
The Left withdrew support from the Congress-led UPA government in its bid to stall India’s proposed civilian nuclear energy deal with the US. It has already said that it has no qualms against voting out the government to stall the deal even if it requires voting in line with BJP, which it describes as a communal party.
Dubbing communalism and nuke-deal as “equal evils”, Yechuri said: “One cannot make a choice between the two. The Left will not hesitate to vote against the government, even if BJP also votes against the government.”