New Delhi: Former Prime Minister V P Singh today (May 14, 2004) said Left parties should join the new Government at the Centre in the interest of stability and favoured Congress "taking into confidence" all non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties including Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

He was, however, not forthcoming on whether parties like SP and BSP should get into the Government.

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"Left parties should join the Government in the larger interest of the country. For the Cabinet to reflect the political reality and send a signal of stability, the second largest party (CPM) should not be outside the Government," he told reporters.

He said that unlike during the United Front Government (UDF), when only CPI participated in the Ministry, all the four Left parties should be in the Government.

Singh said he had spoken to veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu in this regard and would speak to him again to impress upon him that to wipe out communal and fascist forces, the strength of the Left parties was necessary.

At the same time, the former Prime Minister, who had a meeting with CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet this morning, said that the Left would not get a better opportunity to establish itself in the heartland. So far they are in the periphery, he said.

Singh said that for the sake of stability, Congress must "rope in" its alliance partners like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and also "take into confidence" all non-BJP parties like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal (Secular) headed by H D Deve Gowda and former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. "Surjeet is in touch with SP," he said.