The Left has hitherto assiduously kept away from sharing any platform with either the BJP or the Congress. Indeed, they were far closer to the BJP than to the Congress in the heady days of the anti-Bofors agitation.
Although the Congress may not be as ideologically pariah for the Left parties, it is their chief political opponent in the states where they have strength enough to form governments, West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat played down the political significance of yesterday's exercise saying it was only a representation to the President and not an agitation.