Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury today described the ongoing efforts to unite the constituents of erstwhile Janata Parivar as a positive step and said the policies on which they are crystallizing should be looked into.
"I won't call it Third Front or any alternate Front. From my reading what I can see happening is that the various factions of Jananta Party or Janata Parivar, as they call themselves, were all parts of Socialist party at one time in our country, and they are trying to come together," Yechury told PTI on the sidelines of a programme organised by the CPI(M)'s Karnataka unit.
"Now the Left component in Indian politics has always been consisting of two streams, the Communist Left and the Socialist Left. The Socialist Left is badly divided from BJP to the Congress. Whether it is Mulayam Singh Yadav or Lalu Prasad Yadav or Nitish Kumar or Biju Janata Dal or Mr Deve Gowda, they were all once part of the Socialist group.
"They are trying to come together, that is good thing... we have always said that Socialists should also try to come together like the Communists are trying to come together... that is the positive step, let us see how it crystallizes, but most important is what their policies are...," he added.
Six political parties of the 'Janata parivar' had come together earlier this month to present a united front against the government in the Winter Session of Parliament and they had not ruled out the possibility of a merger in the future to take on a resurgent BJP.
Asked if Left parties will look at an option of supporting 'Janata Parivar' to create a viable opposition to BJP at the Centre, Yechury said, "...On issues like communalism we will definitely work with them, but the point is let them first form, crystallize what they are emerging as and what are the policies on which they are uniting. Then definitely other process will follow."
Earlier, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda said Janata Parivar and other like-minded parties should unite and prepare a policy document and go before the people with their message as a strong opposition.
Alleging that a situation like "undeclared Emergency" prevailed in the country, the JDS supremo had said leaders of 'Janata Parivar' will meet during the Winter Session of Parliament in their efforts to build a "credible alternative" to take on BJP.
Gowda had also said he had suggested that the constituents of Janata Parivar should talk to all like-minded parties including the Left.
