BJP-RSS trying to create communal tension: Prakash Karat

The CPI-M on Wednesday accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of creating communal tension in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Interacting with the media on the sidelines of an event in the Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat termed as "media creation and hype" the debate on the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"The hype surrounding BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is all a media creation," he said.

In reality there was "No Modi and No Rahul", he said.

Karat also predicted that the combined strength of Congress and the BJP in the 2014 general elections would not exceed 300.

Asked about the formation of the Third Front, the CPI-M leader said that so far he has held no discussions with any "like-minded parties.

He, however, stressed on the need for an anti-Congress and anti-BJP platform after the polls.