Federal Front is Team B of BJP: CPI

Describing the Trinamool Congress and TRS' proposal to build a Federal Front as the "Team B" to the BJP, the CPI on Tuesday batted for state-level Opposition alliances, such as the Grand Alliance, to defeat the BJP at a national-level.

CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said each state has a different situation and an alliance at the national level will not be possible and workable.

"There is a need for state-specific alliances or adjustments. In Bihar, we feel, to defeat the BJP, the best option is to strengthen the Grand Alliance in which RJD and Congress are a part. We have not spoken to other Left parties. We are in touch with other parties," Reddy told a press conference here when asked about the Opposition unity.

Regarding the upcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, he said the Left has considerable presence in several pockets in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

In Chhattisgarh, he said the CPI is fine with entering into an electoral understanding or alliance with other parties.

"In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, we have some strength. Certainly we will be fighting the elections there. If some parties are ready to cooperate, we are also ready. We will have to discuss with the other Left parties," he said.

When asked about the efforts to cobble up a Federal Front by parties like Trinamool Congress and TRS, he said, "it is a very peculiar type of front. As per our understanding, the Federal Front is the Team B of BJP."

On the Narendra Modi government, he said, "the continuous defeats in bypolls, failure to form a government in Karnataka despite the help from a BJP-appointed governor and the growing disenchantment of people with the Sangh Parivar and Modi government have unnerved BJP leaders."

"The recent poll results have clearly sounded the beginning of the fall of the Modi government. If forces committed to fight RSS ideology come together, the RSS-BJP could be ousted from power in 2019. These results give a new impetus to the struggle against fascism," he said.

The party has also called for a nationwide protest on June 20 against the hike in fuel prices.

Demanding a rollback of the hike in excise duty, Reddy said the NDA government has hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel prices nine times and it helped the government to mop up 40% of its indirect tax through this route.