No Fourth Front, says Karat

May 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat called All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Chief Jayalalithaa on Friday. Karat has invited Jayalalithaa for the Third Front meeting on May 18.

May 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) boss and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's trusted lieutenant Satish Mishra Friday called on Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat and assured that his party was with the Third Front, CPI-M sources said. Mishra also assured the CPI-M leader that the BSP would participate in a meeting of Third Front parties here Monday to discuss a post-poll strategy, the sources said.

May 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said on Wednesday that leaders of the Left and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would meet on May 18 to discuss the possibility of forming an alternative secular government. Addressing a news conference in the national capital after a meeting of Left leaders, Karat said: "Leaders of non-Congress, non-BJP will meet here on May 18 to decide the future course of action.

May 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Political parties opposed to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will meet here May 18 to decide their future course of action, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said Wednesday. Karat told reporters here that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will also join the meeting of the Third Front.

May 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Appearing to soften his stand on allying with the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that a decision on this issue will be taken jointly by Third Front partners after the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking on the 'Devil's Advocate' programme on CNN-IBN telecast Sunday evening, Karat said whether to ally with the Congress if nothing else worked out would be a 'joint decision by the Biju Janata Dal (BJP), JD-S (Janata Dal-Secular), AIADMK (and Left parties)'.

May 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Left parties are working to formulate a common policy within the Third Front, taking into account the political culture of its constituents, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said here Saturday. 'We're trying to make our own political platform through a common minimum programme.

May 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat met Biju Janata Dal leader and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Friday for discussions on forming a credible secular alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. After the meeting, Karat said he was confident about forming a non-Congress, non-BJP front that would be "well-poised" to defeat both the Congress and the BJP.

May 3rd, 2009 NAGERCOIL - Expressing confidence that the secular combine of the Third Front would form the next government at the centre, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said here Sunday that people were looking for a political change. 'People are fed up with the Congress and the (Bharatiya Janata Party) BJP,' Karat said, addressing an election meeting at Marthandam near Nagercoil, 650 km south of the Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

April 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In an indirect reference to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said Sunday that Left parties will work towards making a Lok Sabha member the country's next prime minister. The CPI-M leader said that the right candidate for the post of prime minister will be decided once the Third Front is in a position to form the next government, and if that happens Karat wants the Congress to support them in the similar way the Left supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004.

April 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Left parties will not prop up a Congress-led government, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat reiterated Wednesday. Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two days ago hinted at tying up with them after polls, Karat said the Left parties would prefer to sit in opposition in case the Third Front fails to form the government.

April 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Lok Sabha elections are a three-way contest, Marxist leader Prakash Karat said Thursday, ridiculing both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a signed article in 'People's Democracy', the mouthpiece of his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Karat said the gathering of forces by the Left and regional allies had unnerved the two main parties.

April 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said on Friday that NCP chief Sharad Pawar may join the Third Front after the elections, as the "logic would lead him towards this option." "Right now we are not having any understanding with him regarding the Third Front...But I think the logic of the situation would lead him to also consider this option," Karat told NDTV. The CPI (M) leader admitted that Pawar would have various options open after the elections, but ultimately it could be Third Front that he may choose.

March 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Nothing remains constant in politics and equation keeps changing, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat described his relationship with Manmohan Singh as a political one, not a personal one, and said the decision to not allow Jyoti Basu to become Prime Minister was not a historic blunder. In 1996, the CPM had refused to let Basu take the Prime Minister's oath at the head of a United Front government, something he later termed a "historic blunder".

March 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh Monday ruled out the possibility of his party joining the Third Front, saying he saw no hope as long as Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secreatry Prakash Karat was at its helm. Amar Singh said Karat denied him an appointment to 'discuss my personal issue' recently only because of his proximity with the Congress.

March 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Taking on senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee for his ridicule of the Third Front, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Monday said that Mukherjee would realise the importance of the groping after the poll results. Reacting to Mukherjee's comments on March 14 that he did not understand what the objective of the Third Front was, Karat said: 'Pranab Mukherjee says he doesn't know what this Third Front is.