New Delhi, April 16 (Inditop) The Lok Sabha elections are a three-way contest, Marxist leader Prakash Karat said Thursday, ridiculing both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a signed article in “People’s Democracy”, the mouthpiece of his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Karat said the gathering of forces by the Left and regional allies had unnerved the two main parties.
“It has become clear that the 15th Lok Sabha election is a three-way contest,” the CPI-M general secretary said.
“Contrary to what the Congress and BJP hoped would be a contest between (them) and their allies, the non-Congress, non-BJP parties are challenging them in a number of states.
“This is behind the increasing attacks on the Third Front by the Congress and the BJP leadership,” he added.
Karat ridiculed Congress and BJP claims that the Third Front had no potential.
“If such a front is only an illusion or just a motley bunch of parties without a programme, why are the two parties so worried?”
Karat explained that in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the Congress polled 26.53 percent of the vote and the BJP 22.16 percent. Together, this constituted less than 50 percent of the vote.
“If the two parties fail to rally a substantial number of the non-Congress, non-BJP parties to their side, their prospects are bleak.”
rounak