'LS polls be utilised to create alternative to NDA and UPA'

The coming Lok Sabha elections should be utilised as a "window of opportunity" by creating a political alternative which steers clear of both the UPA and the NDA and ensures a "decisive shift" in the country's policies, CPI(M) said today.

The coming Lok Sabha elections should be utilised as a "window of opportunity" by creating a political alternative which steers clear of both the UPA and the NDA and ensures a "decisive shift" in the country's policies, the CPI(M) said today.

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"In this 60th year of our Republic, we shall be having our 15th general elections. This must be utilised as a window of opportunity in our country's 'shashti' (60th year) to create the basis for a new melodious harmony," Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

Stressing the need for a "decisive shift in the country's policy trajectory", he said this should be in favour of improving people's welfare rather than solely helping corporate houses.

"Secondly, the unity and integrity of India, which is non-negotiable, can be maintained only when we fiercely safeguard our political and economic sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy defining our relations with the world with dignity," Yechury said in an editorial in the latest issue of party's mouthpiece 'People's Democracy'.

He said if a decisive shift in policies had to be made, then "a political alternative capable of affecting such a shift, given the class nature of both the Congress and the BJP and their proven refusal to pursue pro-people policies, need to be strengthened."

"Clearly, this means that a political alternative which steers clear of both a BJP-led coalition and a Congress-led coalition is required to bring about such a shift in the policy direction of the country," the CPI(M) leader said.