By IANS,
Chennai : There was no rift between Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury over the Left’s decision to withdraw support to the government, Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary D. Raja said here Wednesday
“The reports are baseless,” Raja said, referring to media reports that CPI-M politburo member Yechury was opposed to the four Left parties voting against the Manmohan Singh government in the July 22 trust vote.
“He (Yechury) is with us. There is no difference of opinion among the Left on the issue”.
Yechury himself last week denied differences with CPI-M general secretary Karat. Some media reports interpreted his trip to Britain for an event organised by the British parliament as singalling his disapproval over the CPI-M move to withdraw its backing to the government when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was away in Japan to attend the G8 summit.
Raja, here to address a public meeting to explain the four Left parties’ opposition to the India-US deal, was talking to the media on his arrival at the airport.
Answering criticism that the Left’s withdrawal of support to the Manmohan Singh government could strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Raja reiterated: “We will be the first to oppose the communal BJP. It is unfair to say that we have joined hands with the BJP to dislodge the UPA government.”
Raja blamed the prime minister squarely “for the present situation”, saying he “has a single point agenda” to push the nuclear deal.
“We are pursuing our own policy against the deal,” he said.