Alliances among all 11 Left, secular parties not necessary: Karat

Maintaining that these parties “may be joined by some other parties who are today not in Parliament”, he said this combination would “provide an alternative to the people who are fed up with the Congress and will also effectively counter the BJP's claim to be the alternative”.

The emergence of such an alternative would become “the rallying point for all the secular-democratic forces in the country who want to see an end to Congress rule and who want to prevent the party with a communal ideology coming to power at the Centre,” the top CPI(M) leader said.

Karat noted that in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the combined vote percentage polled by Congress and BJP was 46.7 and 47.4 per cent respectively.

”Since then, assembly elections in various states have shown the strength of the regional parties which were able to win substantial support and form governments,” he said.

These parties like AIADMK, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) have decided to be part of the non-Congress, non-BJP combination. Other regional parties like the Janata Dal (Secular), Asom Gana Parishad and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha are also in the alternative combination.

Observing that there were some more parties which had joined the anti-communalism convention in October last year, he said, “Except for the NCP, which is part of the UPA, all the other parties share a common goal of fighting both the BJP and the Congress.”