Forget past disputes: PM to secular parties

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to reach out to the Left and other secular parties asking them to come together to provide a strong and stable government "forgetting their past disputes."     

"I expect all secular parties to forget their past disputes and come together to give this country a strong, stable and purposeful government. We will work in a spirit of comradeship," he said with Congress President Sonia Gandhi by his side.      

"We invite all opposition parties to use this moment to convey to the world that at a time when the world is in serious difficulty... We stand one as a nation," he said in a message to the Left and secular parties.      

Singh said it was his obligation to provide a government that was stable and committed to promoting secular values.      

Singh's appeal came at a time when the Left parties, which received drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, said that they would sit in the opposition.