6 May : The CPI(M), spearheading a campaign for a non-Congress, non-BJP government, has said the party has an option to sit in the Opposition and will not support the Congress in forming a government.
"I have said that we have other option, we can sit in the Opposition……I don’t know how the Congress can expect us to support them," he said a day after Rahul Gandhi expressed confidence that the Left parties would accept Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister after the elections.
Asked if it can be taken that the Left is not going to support Congress, Karat said "I have said Congress-led government." To a question whether he meant that if the Congress though the Left parties would support them post elections they were living in a fool’s paradise, the CPI(M) General Secretary said “Yes, because we have into these elections calling for the defeat of the Congress and its allies and for the formation of an alternative secular government.”"So we are working on that. I don’t know how the Congress can expect us to support them."On Gandhi’s confidence that the Left will support them, Karat said it was not a question of who would be the prime minister.
The question was the CPI(M) could not agree with the Congress’ policies. "Congress does not show any intention of changing its policies."