Left may join govt post-polls: Buddhadeb

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has hinted that all options are open and the Left Front may join a government after the General Elections.

"We are not committing anything. We are now busy with the task to defeat both the Congress and the BJP. After elections, when the situation will arise, we will discuss on the concrete situation at that time. Not now, " Bhattacharjee told CNN-IBN in an exclusive interview.

Bhattacharjee said 2009 was not the same as 2004, when the Left Front decided not to join the UPA Government and supported it from outside. "History does not repeat itself. What happened in 2004, I don't think it’s going to get repeated again," he said.

Bhattacharjee did not rule out the possibility of the Left joining the government after elections. "After 1996, when we rejected the idea of Jyoti babu (Jyoti Basu) taking over as Prime Minister, after that we had a debate inside the party. In our party conferences we decided that in no case are we going to join the Central government. We discussed and decided that if the situation demands and if we can play a meaningful role in the government, then we have to think over and we may join this government."

Bhattacharjee said that although he had differences of policy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he had no problem with Manmohan the individual. "It is not the question of an individual. It is a question of policies. Americans are trying to take us under their umbrella and we are going for a strategic partnership with America--economic, political and military. This is dangerous.

“The Left will never support this position. I have differences with the Prime Minister on these issues. Not as an individual. He is a knowledgeable economist and a man of integrity but his pro-American policies I do not like."

On being asked if he saw himself as a potential Prime Minister of a Third Front government, the West Bengal CM said, " Of course not. I am not in the queue. I am happy with the situation in West Bengal, to perform here. I am not going to join national politics. This is my individual opinion."

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