န Pranab Rules Out Support From Left To Form Govt

Burdwan, Arambagh, 24 April : Two days after saying in Kolkata that Congress was open to Left support to form the next government at the Centre, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee on Friday ruled out the possibility.
"Congress has always formed government at the Centre without the support of Left parties. In 2004, they themselves came forward to support the Congress-led UPA to stop the BJP and save their existence," Mukherjee said in a poll rally at Parul village near Bhatar in Burdwan district. He said the Left parties were not a political force in the national arena and do not exist outside the three states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
Mukherjee said at another election rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district that he saw no chance of the Third Front coming to power at the Centre as indicated by the voting trends. In two of the three CPM-ruled states - Kerala and Tripura - the voting trends indicated that the Third Front was not able to take off, Mukherjee told election meetings in Hooghly and Burdwan districts.

>

Left may ally with Congress after polls : Buddhadeb

PTI, New Delhi, 24 April : West Bengal chief minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has not ruled out the possibility of the Left parties working with Congress again if the situation warrants after the Lok Sabha polls.
"We are not committing anything.... After elections, when the situation will arise, we will discuss on the concrete situation at that time," he said when asked whether Left parties could again "ally" with the Congress to keep BJP out if the situation demands. He said the Left parties at present are "busy with the task to defeat both the Congress and the BJP." Asked whether Left parties, like in 2004, would again remain out of government if they get a chance to be part of it, Bhattacharya said "History does not repeat itself. What happened in 2004, I don't think its going to get repeated again." He referred to 1996 when the Left parties rejected the idea of Jyoti Basu becoming the Prime Minister and said "we discussed and decided that if situation demands and if we can play a meaningful role in the Government, then we have to think over and we may join this Government."
On Congress, the CPM leader said the Left parties had no problem with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an individual but were opposed to his policies.