A few hours after calling on Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday appealed to the AIADMK to join the Left parties to form a secular, democratic, alternative political alternative sans the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Launching the campaign for an ‘alternative political platform at the national level’ here, the CPM leader recalled that the AIADMK and the Left parties shared common views on vital
issues in the past and in Parliament, the AIADMK supported the Left’s views on many of the issues like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail and Food Security Bill.
If parties like the AIADMK and other secular forces came together, a change would be possible in the country, he added.
Recalling that the Congress and the BJP together could only secure 48 per cent of the votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Karat said 52 per cent of the people did not support both of them.
“We have to see that we rally all secular, anti Congress and anti- BJP parties and forces, so that we can present a credible, effective alternative political platform” Karat said.
In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the people would throw out the UPA government for its anti-people policies, he said.
The country was facing the worst economic crisis now and productivity as well as exports had come down drastically, Karat said and added that the value of Indian rupee had gone down as a result.
On the remarks of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament that many countries faced economic problems and depreciation of their respective currencies, Karat said, he failed to reveal that the worst performing currency in Asia, in developing countries was the Indian Rupee.
The Communist Party of India (M) leader pointed out that unlike India, there was no economic crisis in China, where there was no inflation that was taking a toll on the people.
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary Sudhakar Reddy, Communist Party of India (M) State secretary G Ramakrishnan, CPI State Secretary D Pandian and leaders of All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) spoke on the occasion about the need for the secular forces to come together.