By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) head Naveen Patnaik will play a “key role” in forming a “non-Congress, secular government”, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said after meeting him here Friday.
“Our assessment is that no party will get definite majority and secular parties like us will be able to muster enough support to form the government,” Karat told reporters after a 90-minute meeting with Patnaik.
“The Third Front is poised to make a serious bid to form government. I hope the secular, non-Congress parties will come together with us,” he said.
“Naveen Patnaik will play a key role in the formation of the government at the centre,” he said.
“I came to discuss with Patnaik how to work out an alliance. We are working for the non-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and non-Congress combine at the centre after the poll. We are discussing with all secular parties which are non-Congress and non-BJP,” he said.
He said his party is in talks with “a number of a parties which are non-BJP and non-Congress”.
“We have appealed to all the secular parties to join us,” Karat said.
The BJD was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for more than a decade but it broke ties with that coalition ahead of the general elections. It has an Orissa-specific alliance with the Left and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On the assembly elections in Orissa, Karat said the BJD and its allies will form the government in the state.
“In Orissa, the Naveen Patnaik government will return to power with its allies, that is the NCP and the Left parties.”