Left, regional parties likely to do well in 2014 polls: Sitaram Yechury

NEW DELHI: CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said Left and regional parties stand a good chance in the next parliamentary election.

Interacting with mediapersons at the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) here, Yechury said even opinion polls were showing large numbers for 'others' category. He said the country needs an alternative policy framework, something that both the Congress and BJP are incapable of providing.

"There is little to choose between Congress and BJP who follow similar economic policies. Unless you have an alternative set of policy we cannot provide relief to the people," the Rajya Sabha MP said. "There is no lack of resources in the country but they are being either looted or given as incentives to the corporate world in the hope that there will be growth. Congress and BJP were not willing to follow any alternate trajectory on the policy front," he said.

Yechury said people are expecting that post elections there will be a government that will provide relief on the economic front and also in terms of social harmony.

Asked if Left and other secular parties would end up supporting the Congress after the polls, the CPM leader said it could be a different situation and Congress could end up supporting secular parties. Yechury said that since 1977, barring the elections held after Indira Gandhi's death, all the governments had been formed as coalitions.

Asked about Rahul Gandhi, he said that the Congress leader was a well meaning person though what he wants to do and how he would do it has not been articulated.

When asked about the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he questioned its alternative policies. "What is your policy platform? Fighting corruption cannot be a policy platform," he said and added that all parties would talk about fighting corruption.

Yechury said that it was the contribution of the Left, which was supporting the UPA-I, that many rights like the Right to Information and others were given to citizens.

On the issue of Telangana, he said that his party had opposed the creation of the new state and the linguistic basis of states should not be disturbed otherwise there would be no end to such issues in the country. On the CHOGM issue, he said the government should take a decision on the matter but the country should try for the implementation of the India-Lanka accord.