Left says it is ready to sit in Opposition benches

After facing one of the worst defeats at the hustings, the Left parties today said they were ready to sit in the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha and would not support the Congress in government formation.        

"Our expectations have not been fulfilled, we admit. ... Congress is in a position to form government. Let it form. We will sit in the opposition," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told reporters here.         

Asked whether the Left would support the Congress in government formation, the veteran communist leader shot back "why should they need our support? They don't need our support. We will sit in opposition and fight for the cause of the poor."         

He said the Left parties would meet here tomorrow to chalk out the future course of action and the four parties would hold meetings of their own to "review our work".         

Asked about their Third Front partners like BSP, AIADMK, BJD and TDP, Bardhan said "we are not abandoning them".         

He parried a question on whether the Third Front parties would also join the Left in sitting in the opposition, saying "let us see". 

The Third Front parties, including the Left, would be meeting here on Monday to take stock of the post-poll situation.Earlier, senior CPI leader D Raja said the Left parties would also not allow the BJP to take any advantage of emerging situation.         

"We are not with Congress party either at the end of the day or at beginning of the day...If the mandate is not for us to form a non-BJP non-Congress government, alright, then we will sit in the opposition," Raja said.         

He however made it clear that the Left would not allow the BJP to take any advantage of emerging situation.        

"I don't forsee the BJP anywhere. Left will not allow it to take advantage of emerging situation," Raja said when asked will Left allow BJP to form a government at the Centre.         

On the Left's performance in Kerala, the CPI leader said there were certain "adverse factors" in the southern state and "we need to analyse in the coming days".         

The CPI leader said the Left has done lot of good things in the state of Kerala and Bengal and they will continue to have support of the people of these states.         

"We went to people asking for their mandate for a non-Congress non-BJP government and we think people appreciated our political understanding," he said.