By IANS,
Kolkata : Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) patriarch Jyoti Basu Monday asked his party activists to drum up support for the newly-formed Third Front.
“It will be a very important election this year. We’ve to provide support to such a government that will work for the common people of India,” Basu told a party conference here in a taped speech.
The nonagenarian leader could not attend the programme due to his failing health and the video footage of the speech was shown.
Urging his party activists to strengthen the foundation of the Third Front, he said the Left parties had supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the 14th Lok Sabha just to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming into power.
“We supported them on some common minimum programme. But the UPA had cheated the common people,” he said.
“This time we have to strengthen the third force. And for that, people of the state will have to elect the Left Front candidates. Now the onus is on you,” Basu said in his recorded speech.
The state Left Front called a workers’ conference here at the Salt Lake stadium to boost the morale of the party cadres before the coming April-May elections.