"Who will replace UPA?" asks Basu

Kolkata, May 1 (UNI) Rejecting the proposal of Left Front partners for withdrawal of support to the Congress-led UPA Government, Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu today said there was no alternative at the moment.

'' We can withdraw our support to the UPA government in a minute but who will then come to the power at the Centre,'' Mr Basu said at a May Day rally, organised by CITU, at the Shahid Minar here.

Admitting that the Left parties had so far not been able to muster adequate strength to stake claim for power at the Centre, Mr.Basu said they had no other alternative but to extend support to the UPA Government to check the BJP-led NDA.

He said though the coalition government was not implementing the Common Minimum Programme, the Left parties must maintain pressure on it for fulfiling the promises.

'' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to my residence a couple of months ago. I asked him to implement the CMP on the basis of which the Left parties were supporting the Government. But it is regrettable that the government is not doing that properly. The Government has to think how to do it,'' he added.

Mr Basu's comments came in the wake of a strong demand within the Forward Bloc and the (M) CPI to extend only issue-based support to the UPA Government which was not paying need to the various Left demands.

Describing as ''wrong'' the allegation of the opposition that the Left Front Government was being run only by the CPI(M), the nonagenarian leader said the Front was not constituted under electoral obligations, but through a sustained joint movement for the people.

''It is necessary to know the right politics for changing the society and learn who is a friend and who is not,'' he said.

He also lamented that Left parties could not expand their support base in the country beyond a few states and stressed that the task of increasing strength was of utmost importance for them now.

Mr.Basu demanded that the UPA government announce an independent foreign policy.

Speaking on the controversy over land acquisition for industries in West Bengal, Mr Basu stressed that the people must be convinced about the need of industry. He, however, said the Left Front Government was not being run by ''mads'' who would be snatching farmers land. ''If land is required to be taken, arrangements will be made for adequate compensation and rehabilitation,'' he assured.

UNI