Interestingly, Bardhan expressed the CPI's willingness to give ``outside support'' to the Congress if it makes a bid for power. However, he categorically said that Left forces will not bring down nor help to bring down the Vajpayee Government. ``We will not pull down the Vajpayee Government,'' he said.

The Left forces, particularly the CPI, is unhappy with the Government but will not do anything to destabilise it at this juncture. The primary concern, Bardhan said, is that the country cannot afford another general election nor does the CPI want to be seen as ``a power hungry'' party. TheBJP-led Government must fall on its own, he added.

On the issue of Vajpayee's resignation, Bardhan said that a central government did not have to resign because the party had lost a few state assembly election seats but the situation was different this time around. The issues debated in the poll campaign revolved around the policies and programmes of the Central Government including the critical issue of price-rise. In that context, he said, the BJP had lost ``the moral right'' to govern.

To protest against this and other issues -- namely saffronisation of education, privatisation and disinvestment in PSUs and proposed amendments to the Patents Act -- the Left forces have called for a nation-wide stir on December 11.