CPI(M) open to ally with anti-BJP parties: Yechury

The CPI(M) said today that it was open to form alliance with all political parties opposed to the BJP in Bihar and in other states if it is offered a "respectable" share of seats in the Lok Sabha election next year.

CPI(M) secretary-general Sitaram Yechury, who was in Patna to brief workers on the party Congress held in Hyderabad in April, said his party's main objective for the next general election would be to defeat the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance.

With that in view, the CPI(M)'s strategy would be to avoid any split of anti-BJP votes, Yechury told reporters.

"We are open to having an alliance with all parties opposed to the BJP in Bihar and elsewhere. Our only condition is we should get a respectable share of seats," he said.

The CPI(M) had fielded candidates on a limited number of seats in Bihar in the previous Lok Sabha poll and drawn a blank.

Asked whether he agreed with other anti-BJP parties assessment that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar betrayed the mandate of the 2015 assembly poll by walking out of the Grand Alliance with the Congress and the RJD, Yechury only said "at one point of time he was being seen as a potential prime ministerial candidate."