Karat rules out third front before ’14 polls

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday ruled out the formation of a third front before the general elections but said that the prospects of a third front emerging after the elections are “bright”. Mr Karat also refused to demand the Prime Minister’s resignation, like the BJP, despite the removal Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar as Union ministers.
When asked why the CPI(M) was not demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation, he said the CBI investigation was still on and “that is why the CBI investigation report is significant. Questions are being raised ... So let him explain. We want him to come clean and tell us what happened.”
Virtually taking a dig at the BJP, the CPI(M) boss said that earlier the BJP, which is now demanding the PM’s resignation, had said that it will allow Parliament to function if both the Union ministers resign. “When we will demand the PM’s resignation, we will stick to it,” Mr Karat said.
Instead, the CPI(M) boss on Monday demanded the resignation of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi noting that fresh evidence has emerged in the Zakia Jafri case relating to the 2002 communal pogrom. “Fresh charges should be framed against him and he should not continue in the top post,” he said.
Even as the CPI(M) has decided to launch nationwide protests over the next few weeks on issues like right to food and land, which could form the basis of a common minimum programme to attract other secular parties to the non-Congress, non-BJP platform, Mr Karat said: “Right now, no one seems to be clear about a third front. At the national level, such an alternative (third front) may not be possible now. But after the elections, some leaders say there will be a bright prospect for such an alternative.” He said his party’s electoral tactics would be that the Left parties would fight unitedly and there could be some electoral adjustments in some states.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Karat also said the party has taken a stand against death penalty seeking its abolition. He said that in India capital punishment is “arbitrarily implemented” and cited the Afzal Guru case to explain the stand adopted by the party.
Incidentally, it was the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal when the hanging of rape and murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee took place.