Signalling to the Congress that all options are open as the next general elections are approaching, Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan, general secretaries of the CPI (M) and the CPI respectively, will address a UNPA farmers’ rally in the capital on February 26.

Both the parties had earlier turned down invitations to address a series of rallies that the UNPA has been organising. When the UNPA launched its rallies from Vijayawada on November 24, 2007, the Left kept away from it, ignoring personal requests by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu. The CPI had deputed Atul Anjan to address the rally, but he did not turn up, after the CPI (M) decided to stay away.

The Left leaders’ willingness to address a UNPA rally comes against the backdrop of statements made by Karat and Bardhan on the need for a third alternative. By publicly joining hands with some of the most virulent anti-Congress parties, the Left will tell the Congress that it has other options too.

Earlier, the Left, which was locked in a bitter battle with the Government over the nuclear deal, did not want to further antagonise the Congress by publicly aligning with the UNPA.

Meanwhile, SP leader Amar Singh indicated that peace with the Congress is a possibility in the emerging realignment. “The ideologies of the Congress and the SP are similar. Both have a common enemy in Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leaders like Salman Kursheed have made bitter attacks on me and Mulayamji. We have also reacted sharply, which we should not have done,” said Singh, adding, “We have built up UNPA as a force and so, no decision vis-à-vis Congress will be taken in isolation by SP. It will have to be collective decision of all the partners of the UNPA and the Left on how to deal with the Congress.”

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