The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on March 15.
Party general secretary Prakash Karat told The Hindu that he accepted the invitation from Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh and his son, who called on Mr. Karat at the CPI(M)'s central office here.
Mr. Karat said discussions with the SP leaders centred on Uttar Pradesh and related issues. There was no reference to a Third Front as was being speculated upon by some television channels ever since the SP recorded a thumping win in the Assembly polls.
The SP and the Left parties have worked together in the past. They were together in the Peoples' Front during the early 2000 before it fell apart after Mr. Yadav walked out, following differences over its candidate for election of the President of India. The SP backed A.P.J. Abdul Kalam while the Left parties fielded Captain Lakshmi Sehgal in the 2002 presidential polls.
Subsequently, the SP went on to support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2008 after the Left parties withdrew outside support to the Manmohan Singh government on the India-U.S. nuclear agreement issue.
The SP, along with the Bahujan Samaj Party, has been extending support to the UPA-II since 2009. The party's political managers are in touch with the SP leaders to ascertain that the arrangement continues.
Meanwhile, Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury said it was “disturbing” to see that members whose parties are part of the government were protesting in Parliament on issues.
Without naming any party, he said those UPA allies who did not like the policies of the Congress-led coalition should leave it, stating that for the wise a signal was enough. His remarks came in the backdrop of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam protest in the Rajya Sabha over the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils.
