HYDERABAD: The CPM believes that the contours of the alternative to the NDA would be clear only after the Lok Sabha elections and that pre-poll arrangements like Mahagatbandhan will not ensure the formation of a non-NDA government. “Only after the Lok Sabha results can one get a clear picture of if an anti-NDA coalition could come to power,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, recalling the outcome of elections in 1996, 1998, and 2004. The Left leader expressed confidence that his party would lend its shoulder in forming an anti-NDA government.​

His statements assume significance at a time when pre-poll alliances are at the centre of the country’s political discourse. His rationale is that no regional party will have its influence beyond its State’s boundaries. Yechury asserted that his party’s prime target was to defeat the BJP, and steered clear of speculating who would become prime minister in the event of the saffron party’s defeat. Though the Congress is the front runner, it does not saying that openly as any such talk may sound the death knell for the Mahagatbandhan. 

Flaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his absence at the all-party meeting held after the attack in Pulwama killed 44 CRPF jawans, he asked why the head of the nation went for a political campaign and gave a miss to the meet. Also in his line of fire was BJP president Amit Shah, who was present during the meeting, for his remark “the sacrifices of our jawans will not go in vain as it is the BJP and not the Congress which is in the government.” 

“If the BJP was all that powerful, how come the attack took place now? The saffron party has been in power for the last five years. It is unfortunate that the issue is being politicised by the BJP when Opposition parties are together in condemning the attack,” he said. When asked about Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s third front, Yechury said no one had approached his party seeking a tie-up. “It was last year that he has made the announcement, but till now there has been no word on it. Usually, before elections,  one gets to hear about such political formations,” he said.