Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which leads the Left Front and is the pivot of the multi-party Third Front, is open to joining the next government after General Elections but is clear it cannot be a Congress-led government.
CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, said his party would a join a secular government at the Centre if needed.
"In case there is a non-Congress secular government at the Centre that can be formed I think that matter becomes relevant. If there is a Congress-led government there is no question--in our party no one will even think about joining a Congress-led government," Karat told CNN-IBN’s Smita Nair.
"The important thing for us is to decide whether we should join a government--that is the major thing for us. We have not done that so far," he said. "We discuss after elections whether we should participate in or join a government. That will become a serious question if there is a non-Congress government in the offing," he said.
“If the post-poll situation warrants our participation in the Government then we will but we are clear that we will not be a part of a Congress-led government,” said Karat.
In a feeler to the ruling party, he said it would be the Congress' responsibility to ensure that a secular government is formed at the Centre.
Karat’s statement is a major shift in policy for the CPI-M, which supported the UPA government from outside before walking out of the alliance last year. In 1996, the CPM refused to take up the post of Prime Minister offered to Jyoti Basu by the United Front and supported the alliance from outside.
Karat also said the Third Front, the alliance of several regional and state parties, is work in progress and the Prime Ministerial candidate would be decided only after elections.
Acceptability, and not just numerical strength of a party, would be the criterion to select a Prime Minister, he said. “Numerical strength is not the criteria for PM--the leader should be most widely accepted.”
Asked if the Left Front would nominate its own leader for the PM’s post, he said: “I doubt that now--I don’t think that it is on the cards. The important thing is to decide is if we are going to join the government. We will discuss after elections whether to join govt or not. If there is a non-Congress government on the offing then we will think of it.”
Karat said the Left Front was the “real” political alliance in the country today and the UPA and the NDA were “extinct”.
“We are the real national level alliance today. We (the Left) have worked with all these parties earlier too, whether it is Telugu Desam, JD-S or the AIADMK. We have had electoral understanding. We have all come together to present non-Congress, non-BJP alternative at the Centre.”
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