"I don't think why the UPA government should not not fulfill its full term. It would remain till the next general elections. I am looking beyond that," he said

The CPI(M), along with other Left parties, has strongly opposed the Indo-US nuclear deal and given enough hints of reconsidering Left's outside support to the government.

Karat, who was re-elected General Secretary of the party at the Coimbatore Congress on Friday, said on the issue of "third alternative" that he was looking at not not in terms of the immediate situation of the next general election.

He said the party would be setting a broad policy framework his party-led governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura

"We have to put in place some policies and programmes which are of long-term character. How do we do that? I think there are the areas in which we have to set out broad framework by which our state governments can take the guidance and work," he said.