Friday, May 6 2005 14:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Describing the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) decision to participate in the proceedings of Parliament as a 'split' in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Jyoti Basu today (May 6, 2005) said that the Left leadership was ready to talk to the TDP if it was interested.

Welcoming the TDP's decision to participate in the Parliament proceedings, Basu told reporters at the CPM office in Kolkata, ''It is a very good move initiated by the TDP, which has now realised its mistake of going with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA. It is a good sign that guided by its experience the TDP has chosen the right track and taken right decision at last.''

Asked if he regarded the TDP's decision to participate in the Parliament proceedings as a split in the BJP-led coalition, he said, ''Yes, it is a split in the NDA.''

Basu said that the Left leadership was prepared to talk to the TDP if it was interested. It had worked well during the reign of the National Front Government led by H D Deve Gowda.

The veteran Marxist said that by joining hands with the NDA, the TDP had led Andhra Pradesh to disaster as has been pointed out by various reports of the World Bank.

TDP had yesterday (May 6, 2005) broke ranks with the BJP-led NDA and decided to participate in the proceedings of Parliament ending the six-day boycott.

Turning to the possible hike in prices of petroleum products, Basu said that his party was against it. ''Our party general secretary Prakash Karat had conveyed our stand to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. We are discussing it within our party also''.