Indian Communist Party-Marxist rules out alliance with Congress, BJP

NEW DELHI, May 3 -- The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday made it clear that it will not forge any alliance with Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the general elections.

"We have decided in our meeting recently that we will not go for any alliance with the ruling Congress or BJP after the ongoing general elections," CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat said.

"There are a number of issues both with the BJP and the Congress. The issue of secularism is not safe in BJP's hands," Karat said.

The statement came in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent statement that Congress was again ready to take the help of Left parties, including CPI-M, to form the next government.

Singh said that though the issue of Indo-U.S. nuclear deal was non-negotiable with the Left, he was confident of forging an alliance with them again after the polls are over by mid-May.

West Bengal state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a senior CPI-M leader, had earlier said his party had kept all post-poll alliance options open.

But Karat said she was confident that the Third Front, of which CPI-M is a part, would form the next government on its own at the center.