Non-Congress, non-BJP combine likely by February: Prakash Karat

Kochi: To effectively counter Narendra Modi, non-Congress 'secular' parties will finalise some concrete electoral alliance by early February, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said on Saturday.

"The Congress party and its alliance are going to be incapable of countering BJP and Narendra Modi. BJP and Modi can be effectively checked only by a non-Congress secular combination of forces," he told a Meet-the-Press programme organised by the Ernakulam Press Club here.

CPI(M) and other Left parties were working towards arriving at broad agreement with various non-Congress, non-BJP parties.

Such an opposition front was earlier formed after the polls. "We are today already in touch. We are working on a broad, loose combination before elections at regional level," he said.

"This time much before the elections on October 30 last year, 14 parties came together. We are in constant discussions with all parties. By beginning of February, some concrete alliance will be finalised. So that after the elections, we will be able to put together any combination we require against BJP as the Congress is not going to win," Karat said.

Describing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made a spectacular electoral debut in the recent Delhi assembly polls, as a 'substitute' for some bourgeoisie party, he said AAP had not made its stand clear on communalism.

On Sarah Joseph, Malayalam writer and ardent Left sympathiser, deciding to join AAP, he said one good thing the AAP had done in Delhi was that it has drawn a lot of people from the middle class who were earlier not interested in politics.

To that extent it is a positive trend. AAP's programmes and policies have to be seen, he said, adding AAP cannot be a substitute for the Left.

Replying to a query on the middle class in metro cities losing interest in the Left parties, Karat admitted that the Left had not grown in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai.

"That is a fact. Most of the industrialised areas where trade unions had developed they do not exist now, he said. In Delhi, there were six textile mills earlier. Today there is nothing."

Left parties would have to re-orient their work in the metro cities to attract more members, he said.

Karat said the country was facing unprecedented price rise of all food items and it was unfortunate that the government was trying to implement the Aadhar based linkage to LPG cylinders.

He said this was an attempt to cut subsidies being given for several services. "We strongly oppose the Aadhar linkage to delivery of subsidy of LPG cylinders," he said.

With regard to the implementation of Kasturirangan and Gadgil committees report on conservation of Western ghats, which had drawn protests across the state, there was need for further discussion.

The region was crucial for its water resources and has richest biodiversity in the country.

CPI(M) wanted broad-based discussions and was not keen for its implementation now.

"While we are not rejecting all features and of the two reports, we do not want Kasturirangan report recommendations to be acted upon as it has missed on some important aspects, including farmers' groups," he said.

On the failed agitations of the CPI(M) in connection with solar panel scam in the state, he said as of now, the ongoing struggle and agitation could not be intensified by the party as the Lok Sabha polls were round the corner.

Asked who would lead the party in the state in the Lok Sabha polls- party veteran V S Achutanandan or state party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Karat shot back saying "we are not projecting a Prime ministerial candidate. "There is difference between Lok sabha elections and state assembly polls. In the Lok Sabha polls, we will not have one person leading the campaign," he said.

Next: CPM cadres warned against airing party matters on social media

CPM cadres warned against airing party matters on social media 

Kochi: General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday cautioned cadres against posting their views on party matters on social networking and blogging sites, saying such acts were against party discipline. Karat told reporters here that some of the party members have Facebook pages, with Internet and new forms of social media being active now.

"While they discuss their problems inside the party, they will not violate the discipline by giving interviews to the print media," he said. "Several of our good party members, however, express their individual opinion through their Facebook and Twitter pages, believing that it is their own individual opinion.

"Unfortunately, we have not been able to educate them that it is also a violation of party discipline. So we have now begun educating our party members to express their views only inside the party forum," he said.