There Will be Pre-poll Alliances at State Level, a National Alliance will be Done Post 2019: Yechury

Lucknow: Buoyed by opposition’s success in the recently held byelections and aiming to further consolidate anti-BJP vote ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said that opposition should counter BJP with pre-poll alliances at the state level and a national level alliance can be stitched post elections.

Speaking at CPI (M) office at Vidhan Sabha Marg in Lucknow, Yechury said, “We aim at the consolidation of anti-BJP vote ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls. There will be pre-poll alliances on state level, while a national level alliance will be done post polls.”

It was being speculated that an alliance can be done on national level as ‘maha-gathbandhan’ in which both national and regional parties can come together under one umbrella as a part of strategy to defeat BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

On the question of who will be the potential PM candidate of the alliance if they get the numbers, Yechury said, “There is no dearth of potential Prime Ministerial Leaders in the country. The narrative of 'Modi vs whom' is meaningless. Who dreamt of Manmohan becoming Prime Minister in 2004?”

Attacking the central government over the move to open up Joint Secretary level positions in the government through lateral entry, Sitaram Yechury said, “All democratic and constitutional institutions are being compromised. Decision of lateral entry at the level of joint secretary is a dangerous one. Bureaucracy is the steel frame on which our country works. Being advisors/ OSD is a different thing, bringing in Joint secretaries is a worrying decision. It is an attempt of RSS infiltration.”

Making a comment on the meeting of US President Donald Trump and the Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Yehcury said, “If the summit leads to pulling back of US defence establishment in South Korea, then it’s a big success for people of both North and South Korea.”