The CPI(M) on Tuesday formally joined the alliance led by DMK in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the crucial by-elections for 20 assembly seats.
After his meeting with DMK president MK Stalin at his Alwarpet residence here on Tuesday, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said his party would be part of the DMK-led alliance comprising of other secular and democratic parties with the common objective of removing the BJP-led government at the centre and to save India.
"Stalin and I are together on the issue of saving the unity, integrity and harmony of the people of India and the country's constitutional institutions," he said.
"Had a good meeting with @SitaramYechury. We discussed in detail about the alliance in order to defeat the BJP government at the Centre in the 2019 general elections," Stalin tweeted after the meeting.
The Marxist party has joined the DMK-led alliance in the state 10 years after severing its ties in 2008, when it withdrew its support to the Congress-led UPA government in 2008 over the Indo-US Nuclear deal.
Besides CPI(M), the DMK-led alliance comprises Congress, IUML, MDMK, CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. DMK's alliance looks formidable considering that the ruling AIADMK suffered a split following the demise of its supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
Tamil Nadu will witness the first election in the last three decades in the absence of Jayalalithaa and her arch rival DMK chief M Karunanidhi who passed away in August this year. Even as the DMK is able to get new allies, the AIADMK is left with none except the BJP, which has little presence in Tamil Nadu.
When asked whether the CPI(M) would be a part of an alliance comprising Congress and TMC, Yechury said that alliances in India would take place at the state-level first and on that basis, the national alliance would emerge. "At the state level today, we have decided to be part of the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu in the forthcoming elections… National-level things will happen after elections," he said.
On actor Rajinikanth's remark that BJP is the strongest party as other opposition parties are aligning against it, Yechury said that the actor's comments remind him of 2004 Lok Sabha polls. "In 2004, we all saw how the grand post-poll alliance was a success. Vajpayee was seen as the undefeated face at that point too, but we know what happened. After Jawaharlal Nehru, the longest uninterrupted serving PM was Dr Manmohan Singh. So let us have faith in the Indian democracy and people. I don't have to answer speculative questions," he said.
The Marxist leader said that the opposition parties would be able to iron out the differences among themselves. "We will be able to iron out all the differences. More than the attitude of the leaders, it is the people on the ground, who will push all leaders to come together and save India. And it will happen," he said.
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