Maya better than other PMs-in-waiting: Bardhan

Wed, Aug 6 02:25 AM

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat may have sidestepped the issue of projecting BSP supremo Mayawati as the prime ministerial candidate, but his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan has no such inhibitions - the Left leader said on Tuesday that the UP Chief Minister was a "fit candidate" to become the PM.

However, although the CPI is open to the idea of Mayawati becoming the prime minister, the party at the same time is not willing to jump the gun and project her beforehand and is waiting for the ten-party grouping of Left, UNPA, BSP and JD(S)to take the shape of a third front.

"She is a fit candidate and better than some others who are pretending to be the prime ministers-in-waiting," said Bardhan, who was the first Left leader to suggest her name for the PM's post. He added that the biggest party in the grouping would claim the coveted post.

"Once it (the front) is formed, we will have a natural leader. The biggest party will claim the leader. The issue will be settled naturally in course of time," he added. Sources in the CPI said the issue, however, was not discussed at the party's National Council meeting which was held here for three days.

Bardhan's comments assume significance as Karat had earlier suggested that the CPI(M) was not for projecting an individual for the prime minister's post. "We don't look at it in terms of projecting an individual," the CPI(M) top boss had said when the question about Mayawati was posed to him.

Though the ten-party grouping is yet to take the shape of a third front, it has already started sending feelers to other parties, particularly to AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa. Sources in the Left parties said JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda has already spoken to Jayalalithaa regarding this.

Bardhan asked all secular parties who are with the Congress or the BJP to "rethink and reconsider" their ties with these parties and join the "new combination" and expressed confidence that the new grouping can grow into a "real alternative" to both the major parties in the coming days.

On the question of CPI withdrawing support to the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu, Bardhan was noncommittal and said a decision will be taken in due course after consulting the state unit. "What is the hurry? Political parties need time, give us the time," he said.

The three-day National Council of the CPI felt that after the trust vote the Government is shifting towards the right and is trying to push policies of privatisation and globalisation that it could not do earlier as the Left was opposed to these programmes.

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