Left, secular parties can fill political vacuum: Bardhan

The Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan on Wednesday said there was room for a credible alternative of Left and secular parties in the country to fill the "political vacuum" created by people's rejection of the two alliances led by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Assembly elections.

In his speech greeting the delegates of the 20th CPI-M party congress which began in Kozhikode, Bardhan claimed both United Progressive Alliance and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance were losing credibility in the eyes of the people.

They were working for a two-party system in the country which could only perpetuate "bourgeois neo-liberalism" and was not acceptable to the people.

"Then there is a political vacuum which can only be filled in the interest of the country by a combination of Left and democratic forces," he said.

He said the "confusion" over a Third Front between the two communist parties could be set aside as the new combination was not being conceived as a meeting of a few leaders sharing seats and fighting elections.

The Left should "redefine" its relations with democratic parties and work for a programme-based alternative, he said.

"And unless the Left are together and make joint efforts, it is difficult to rally all democratic forces."

Bardhan said though some regional parties fell prey to occasional opportunism to share power with BJP and Congress, they were prepared to join hands with the Left to uphold federalism and fight the "dangerous" policies of the Centre.

He said in the last three decades, CPI and CPI-M had been able to undertake joint action on people's issues. The two parties should work in closer affinity in the coming days.

Bardhan suggested that the joint action of Left parties should somehow be institutionalised. "Some sort of a mechanism should be evolved to see that the meetings between leaders of the parties are more regularised," he said.