Talks of third alternative at CPM meet

Discussions on the political situation in the country continue on the second day of the CC meet in Delhi, reports Sutirtho Patranobis.

Discussions on the political situation in the country continued on the second day of the CPM central committee (CC) meet in New Delhi on Friday. Members of the CC exchanged views on a third alternative based on policies, which would be different from those on offer from the Congress and the BJP.

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The third alternative would not, however, be synonymous with the ‘third front’, simply a group of non-Congress and non-BJP political parties.

“The third alternative would be a substitute to the policies that are currently being implemented. It would be a programme-based alternative and not something stitched together for electoral purposes,” said a senior leader.

The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), which has the Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh and Chandrababu Naidu as two of its top leaders, has had several meetings with the CPM leadership. But nothing politically concrete has emerged from those meetings with the UNPA yet to come out with a new set of policies it had promised few months ago.

The alternative should emerge, according to CC members, through joint struggles on issues that impact the common man like rising prices of essential commodities and social security for the unorganised labour.