Kannur: In a jibe at Congress, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury asked how can CPM invite parties to join against BJP while they even refuse to attend seminars. He was mentioning the denial of permission to Shashi Tharoor and KV Thomas to attend a seminar organised as part of the CPM Party Congress.

He was speaking to the media during the Party Congress.

The primary objective of Left parties, including CPM, at present, is to defeat the BJP, said Yechuri. CPM hopes to form a platform of Left parties for this purpose. Secular parties must come together to defeat communal forces. CPM never compromised with BJP. I am not commenting on whether Congress should be a part of the alliance or not, he said while expressing his dissatisfaction over the 'seminar controversy'.

Yechury clarified that chances for a national platform ahead of the 2024 General Elections are thin.

The CPM general secretary demanded the union government to withdraw all the additional cess imposed on fuel in the wake of the uncontrolled price hike.