Communist Party of India- (Marxist) to review poll debacle

New Delhi, May 19 (ANI): Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPM) leader Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said that his party would review the reasons behind the party debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

"The party will make all out efforts to regain the support and confidence of those sections of the people who have been alienated. This will depend on the assessments and the review made by our respective state committees," Yechury told reporters here.

Yechury admitted that the Third Front, which they had tried to project, was not seen by the people as credible and viable at the national level.

When asked about Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announcing outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Yechury stated that each party was trying to take stock of the situation and doing what was appropriate for the party.

"There was no pre-poll alliance with Mayawati, however, an understanding had been reached that the two parties will work together if the situation demanded after the elections were over," he added.

Yechury reiterated his stand that an alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was necessary to bring about a change in the nations policy.

"India eventually requires a non-Congress, non BJP Government. Now this alternative has to be based on alternative set of policies and that will be a political alternative that can bring about a radical shift in the policy trajectory in the country. Now that is a long-term objective which has to be built through people's sustenance, people's movements," he added.

The communists, who supported the national coalition for four years before quitting over the nuclear deal with Washington last year, have had a major fall in the number of parliamentary seats from around 60 they won in 2004 to 24 in 2009. (ANI)