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Third alternative emerging, says CPI-M's Karat

Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Prakash Karat today said it would be wrong to state that the country was heading towards a two-party system, and asserted that the option of a third alternative was clearly present.

There are so many small parties which would like to see a secular government installed at the Centre, Karat said while talking to mediapersons in Ambedkarnagar where he had come here to address an election meeting in support of party candidate Bhagwan Deen.

He said the 24-party National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party was plagued by inner contradictions and would break up after the polls. Moreover, since the BJP has issued no manifesto of its own, it would certainly try to implement its hidden agenda if it came to power, said Karat.

To a query, he said his party had no electoral understanding with the Congress. The CPI-M state committee had fielded party candidates in those constituencies where they could cause maximum damage to BJP candidates, he said, adding that it was under this strategy that a CPI-M candidate has been fielded for Akbarpur (Res) seat. He claimed that the presence of the CPI-M candidate would work against the BJP in this constituency.

UNI

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