Karat: No vote for UPA

The CPI(M) has ruled out supporting the Congress in forming a government at the Centre, indicating that the rift between the Left and the UPA on the issue of the nuclear deal cannot be wished away.

“If you think we are going to support a Congress gov ernment, I don’t know, I think people will accuse us of opportunism,” the CPI(M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, told Malayalam television channel Kairali TV on Thursday.

Mr Karat hoped the Left parties would be able to present “some third force” in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He clarified that the Left’s idea of a third force should not necessarily mean a third alternative that is propped up to fight elections. “The third alternative has to be in terms of policies,” he said.

Mr Karat was evasive about the issue of projecting BSP supremo Mayawati as a prime ministerial candidate.

“We don’t look at it in terms of individuals being projected as Prime Minister,” the CPI(M) leader told the channel.