Secular forces should unite to defeat BJP: CPI

The strategy of the Opposition should be to defeat BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, says CPI general secretary D. Raja.

CPI General Secretary D. Raja briefing media after the conclusion of the National Council Meeting of CPI held in Puducherry on February 28, 2023. | Photo Credit: Kumar S.S.

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D. Raja on Tuesday said it was not politically desirable to talk about third front at the national level as the strategy of the Opposition should be to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Briefing media on the concluding day of the party’s national council here, he said ‘”the CPI is not talking about third front and all we are asking is for the consolidation of secular and democratic forces against the BJP in the next parliamentary elections.”

He was responding to a query related to the Congress’s assertion at its Raipur plenary that emergence of a third front will only help BJP. The CPI leader said the Opposition parties had got the experience of working together in the past with the aim to defeat the BJP. 

“We have the experience of running the United Front government and UPA 1. In a democracy, leadership is not an issue. It could be decided collectively. Like in the past, a leader could be decided collectively after the elections. The parties worked together on a common minimum programme,“ he added.

The national council, he said, had deliberations on the prevailing political and economic situation in the country. The party was of the view that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government the country was facing upheaval to its basic fabric. Party workers would be reaching out to voters from April 14 to May 15 to explain the “misdeeds” of the Central government, he said.

The CPI leader flayed the Prime Minister for not answering questions on the alleged financial frauds committed by business conglomerate Adani group. The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister did not give answers to questions about the support the Adani group enjoys with the Central government, he said.

Mr. Raja criticised the Centre over the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. He said the arrest of the AAP leader was politically motivated.