CPI(M) open to alliance with non-Congress, non-BJP parties post-poll: Sitaram Yechury

CPI(M) is open to a post-poll alliance with all parties, including Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK which has dumped a pre-poll understanding with Left Front in Tamil Nadu, if they continue to maintain a non-Congress, non-BJP stance, a senior party leader said today.

"We are open to anyone who is non-Congress and non-BJP. In that case, if Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar or Naveen Patnaik continue to remain non-Congress and non-BJP, we are open to them to have a post-poll alliance," CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury told PTI in an interview here.

Asked specifically if CPI(M) would forge an alliance with AIADMK after the polls despite the break-up before the elections, he said Left parties have been seeking seat-sharing arrangements at the state level with regional parties which were non-Congress and non-BJP. "With Jayalalithaa also, we had the same arrangement. She continues to be non-Congress and non-BJP ... We have learnt from Indian history that since 1977, a pre-poll alliance has never formed a government," he added.

On March 6, CPI(M) and CPI had called off their month-old alliance with the Jayalalithaa-led party after getting miffed over ruling AIADMK's "approach" in finalising seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.