JOIN USCong, BJP trying to woo fence sitters
The Congress is said to have begun talks with Left parties by getting in touch with West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadev Bhattacharjee and CPM MP Sitaram Yechuri.
Having already bagged the Telegana Rashtra Samiti even before the results are out, a beaming BJP is said to have made moves to get the AIADMK and other Tamil Nadu parties such as the PMK and MDMK to its side.
Interestingly, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who in the past has spoken to AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha, has been asked to hold initial talks with her. Also in the picture is saffron financial expert S Gurumurthy.
All these TN parties are fighting the LS polls in alliance with the Left. However, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister has already stated that the electoral understanding was only till the elections which means that the parties are free to take their decisions once the results are out.
TRS boss K Chandrashekar Rao attended the NDA rally at Ludhiana on Sunday leaving the “grand alliance” of Andhra Pradesh in tatters. The TRS fought the elections in alliance with the TDP and Left parties.
The TDP is likely to be wooed by the BJP. The party might field its leader Venkaiah Naidu to talk to TDP boss Chandrababu Naidu.
Bhattacharjee, who has good equation with prime minister Manmohan Singh, said on Monday for the first time that the Left could join a government that was ready to “change” the country’s foreign and economic policies. Also, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat did not rule out an understanding with the UPA after the elections.
“If an alternate government is formed according to an unified agenda, there is a change in the country’s internal, economic and foreign policies, and we can play a meaningful role to achieve that, we will join that government,” Bhattacharjee told reporters in Kolkata.
In Delhi, the BJP hit out at the UPA, terming it an ‘Ulta Pulta (topsy turvy) Alliance’, and said the ruling coalition had “collaped like a pack of cards hours after Manmohan Singh questioned JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s secular claims.
“The UPA ...is non existent and filled with pessimism....,” said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.