In Bihar, where RJD agreed to give it only three seats, CPI on Monday decided to go it alone in nine constituencies.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said that the CPI-RJD friction would help the National Democratic Alliance.

Speaking to mediapersons in New Delhi on Tuesday, CPM politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said, "a division in the secular camp will help BJP, but there is still time to minimise the damage".

The CPI, furious over Laloo Prasad Yadav's offer of three seats, broke away from the seat-sharing arrangement with RJD on Monday and decided to contest from nine constituencies.

CPM, however, did not have any objection to Yadav's offer of two seats. This was because "CPI is alarger party than us in Bihar," Yechury said.

He emphasised that at present, the choice was not between communal and corrupt forces but "between communal and corrupt people, on the one hand, and corrupt people, on the other."

The press conference was organised to release two pamphlets under the overall theme of "13+4 Months of BJP Misrule." In all, there are ten pamphlets, which will be released in four lots. The two, which were released were: `Unabated Communal Offensive: Barbaric Times Under Saffron Brigade' and `Communal Education: Falsifying History.'

Yechury said that though the NDA agenda of 1998, did not have any communal element, in practice, BJP rule had been marked with "virulent attacks on minorities, particularly the Christian minority."