Left leaders meet JD(U) chief, SP supremo
15 Jun 2013 12:03 AM GMT
In the midst of churning in NDA, the Left parties on Friday waded into the scene for formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP front to fight the next Lok Sabha elections.
Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury first met JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav in an apparent attempt to wean the party away from its rival Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief who has floated the idea of a Federal Front of regional parties.
CPI leader A B Bardhan, meanwhile, held separate meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh.
Banerjee’s main rivals are the Left parties in West Bengal and she also has reservations in tying up with Samajwadi Party which ditched her in the Presidential polls last year after promising support to her candidate.
After the meeting between Yechury and Sharad Yadav, neither divulged what was discussed.
Yechury, however, said Left parties want unity of parties on the basis of alternative policies.
‘What we want is alternative policies. Left parties have called a political convention on July one. It will discuss the alternative policy framework,’ Yechury told reporters after the 30-minute meeting with the NDA convenor.
Asked whether the Left would join a Third Front, he said it ‘depends upon the programme and policies’ of such a platform. He, however, made it clear that there was ‘no such talk’ (of third front) at the meeting.
Observing that nothing much should be made out of his meeting Yadav, Yechury said the JD(U) chief had invited him for dinner which he could not attend. ‘There is no politics ... we have been old friends.’
Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury earlier said an alternative to Congress and BJP was not possible ‘because it’s only the Left which gives the cohesion and programme for such an alternative.
Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury first met JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav in an apparent attempt to wean the party away from its rival Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief who has floated the idea of a Federal Front of regional parties.
CPI leader A B Bardhan, meanwhile, held separate meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh.
Banerjee’s main rivals are the Left parties in West Bengal and she also has reservations in tying up with Samajwadi Party which ditched her in the Presidential polls last year after promising support to her candidate.
After the meeting between Yechury and Sharad Yadav, neither divulged what was discussed.
Yechury, however, said Left parties want unity of parties on the basis of alternative policies.
‘What we want is alternative policies. Left parties have called a political convention on July one. It will discuss the alternative policy framework,’ Yechury told reporters after the 30-minute meeting with the NDA convenor.
Asked whether the Left would join a Third Front, he said it ‘depends upon the programme and policies’ of such a platform. He, however, made it clear that there was ‘no such talk’ (of third front) at the meeting.
Observing that nothing much should be made out of his meeting Yadav, Yechury said the JD(U) chief had invited him for dinner which he could not attend. ‘There is no politics ... we have been old friends.’
Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury earlier said an alternative to Congress and BJP was not possible ‘because it’s only the Left which gives the cohesion and programme for such an alternative.
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