Decision on joining government based on post-poll scenario, says Karat

The Communist Party of India-Marxist, which has never joined a government at the Centre so far, would decide on the
issue in case the 'third alternative' comes to power on the basis of concrete post-poll conditions, party leader Sitaram
Yechury said on Wednesday.
    
When asked for a reaction on Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu's statement that it would be difficult for the third front to
come to power, Yechury said, "None of us have said it is an easy task. We are trying hard to achieve our objective of
forming a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre."
    
Asked whether they would join government if the 'third alternative' came to power, Yechury said in 1996, the party
Central Committee had disapproved a proposal to make Basu the Prime Minister. The CPI-M patriarch had then described the decision as 'a historic blunder'.
    
But the 1998 party congress had decided that in future if such a possibility arose, "the Central Committee will take
appropriate decision on the basis of the concrete conditions of the post-poll situation," Yechury said after launching the
CPI-M's new election website, www.vote.cpim.org.
    
Karat has already left the option of joining government open by saying the central committee would meet after the poll results were announced and take a decision.