No alliance with Congress or BJP: CPI-M

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday ruled out any alliance with the ruling Congress or the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the ongoing general elections, shortly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Congress was ready to take the Left's help to form the next government, though the India-US nuclear deal was non-negotiable.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday ruled out any alliance with the ruling Congress or the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the ongoing general elections, shortly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Congress was ready to take the Left's help to form the next government, though the India-US nuclear deal was non-negotiable.

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"We have made it already clear that we are not going to do so (align with the Congress," 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 its (BJP's) hands," Karat said.

She said the Third Front would form the next government at the centre. "The Left is united with the Third Front."

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