By IANS,
New Delhi : Ruling out supporting a Congress-led government after polls, a senior Communist Party of India (CPI-M) leader Thursday said doing so would be an admission that the Left parties’ decision to withdraw support to the government in 2008 was a mistake.
“We withdrew support to the Manmohan Singh government on the basis of policy differences. The Congress is still pursuing these policies. And in this situation, supporting a Congress-led government would be an admission that we committed a mistake in 2008,” CPI-M politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai told IANS.
Asked if the Left parties would support a Congress-led government minus Manmohan Singh, he said: “We are not at all concerned about the individual. We are concerned about the policies.”
The Left parties withdrew their support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in July 2008 in protest against its decision to sign the civil nuclear deal with the US.
Asked about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s comments Thursday, Pillai said: “His statement is considered as opportunistic and an admission of the defeat of the Congress and the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) in the elections.” Rahul Gandhi had pointed out that the Communists had supported the government for four years in the last five, and had said they had quite a few things in common with the UPA.
The senior CPI-M leader also asked the Congress allies to decide on the credibility of that party as Rahul Gandhi praised their rivals in the states like Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
“Let the allies decide on the credibility of the Congress,” Pillai said.
Addressing a press conference here Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi had termed the Left’s poll ally AIADMK as a like-minded party and praised Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu for his administrative skills.
Pillai said there will be re-alignment of political forces after the polls, leading to the formation of a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
“There will be realignment of political parties after the polls. Our (Third Front) allies are very much intact. We are hopeful of forming a government,” he said.
The CPI-M leader said his party would be able to maintain its position in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, where it is ruling.
“We will be able to maintain our position in our strongholds,” he said.