Some issues need to be resolved for 'grand alliance': CPI (M)

New Delhi[India] Apr. 4 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said that there are some issues, which need to be resolved prior to his party becoming a member of the 'grand alliance' to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next Lok Sabha polls. Responding to a poser on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's suggestion to forge a 'grand alliance' to defeat the BJP in 2019, Yechury said that the former has been making desperate efforts in this regard but added that some issues need to be settled first. "What Nitish Kumar has said is not new and he has been making such efforts in the past also. But there are some issues, which need to be resolved for such a thing to happen," Yechury told ANI in an exclusive conversation. He, however, quickly cleared that Left has always been opposing the BJP. "We fought the Bihar elections separately, but with an aim to defeat the BJP," he asserted. Meanwhile, commenting on the views of N. Sreeprakash, the BJP's candidate in Kerala Parliamentary by-polls, the CPI (M) leader said this shows the saffron party's 'political opportunism'. "He is contesting the elections from an area where eating beef is a normal practice. This shows the BJP's political opportunism. Where they want the support of people they will support beef eating, like in north-east and in Kerala. Where they want to consolidate the Hindutva vote bank, they will back Gau Raksha Samitis which have been functioning like private army," he said. "The whole point is that the BJP wants to sharpen the communal divide in the country to consolidate the Hindutva vote bank," he said, adding it is the worst kind of politics being played in the country. The opposition has upped the ante against the BJP after its candidate for the by-election to the Muslim-dominated Malappuram parliamentary constituency has promised quality beef for the people if they elect him. (ANI)