As senior Congress leader A K Antony asked CPI(M) to prove its commitment to secularism by supporting his party after the elections, the Left party today said only a non-Congress alternative would be able to successfully counter BJP.
“Everyone knows by now that Congress is heading for a big defeat in these elections. Congress has also failed to counter BJP. Only a non-Congress alternative can do that,” CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told PTI.
Karat was reacting to Antony’s statement that CPI(M) should prove its sincerity in keeping communal forces at bay by cooperating in a front under Congress leadership. “If they are ready to cooperate, we will accept it,” the Defence Minister said.
CPI(M) Politburo member and Kerala unit chief Pinarayi Vijayan also reacted to Antony’s statement saying the moot question was whether Congress would cross two digits to form another government at the Centre.
“Antony says another coalition government is in store under Congress. But will Congress itself be there in such a coalition ministry, since the party’s tally is not going to cross two digits in Parliament,” asked Vijayan at a press conference in Palakkad in Kerala.
–PTI