By IANS,
New Delhi : The Left parties Tuesday dismissed as “misplaced confidence” Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s statement that he was sure they would support Manmohan Singh as prime minister after the polls.
“The Congress general secretary’s confidence is misplaced because we will prefer to have a non-Congress, non-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government, and we are confident that a non-Congress non-BJP alliance will come to power,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Brinda Karat said shortly after Rahul Gandhi’s press conference here.
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan reacted similarly when he said: “I don’t think the Left will oblige them (Congress) this time. They are nervous about it (the election results).”
Rahul Gandhi had said at a press conference earlier that the “field is open” for post-poll alliances, and “I am confident that the Left will support Manmohan Singh”.
He added that the Congress too would support the Left if such a scenario were to unfold.
Karat, a CPI-M politburo member, reiterated the Left support to “an alternative secular government at the centre, not under the BJP or the Congress”.
She termed Rahul Gandhi’s statement as conceding defeat. “Basically the party is conceding defeat. He knows the Congress will not have the numbers and that is why he is talking of a post poll alliance.”
She added that the Left was in talks with other parties and “more parties will join us after the polls”. The Left is heading a grouping of regional parties termed the Third Front.
Sidharth Nath Singh, BJP spokesperson, termed Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the Left as indicative of the UPA being aware that they would lose in the Lok Sabha polls.
“His statement shows that they are losing, that is why they need support of the Left.”
He told a news channel that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was “marching ahead and was the frontrunner in the polls”.