ALEX Salmond has insisted Alba is now the only party making independence an immediate priority in the upcoming Holyrood election.
The former first minister made the comments following the SNP's manifesto launch.
Nicola Sturgeon said a second referendum should be held in the next parliamentary term.
But the First Minister said she did not propose holding another vote "while we are still grappling with the Covid crisis".
The SNP manifesto says the party's intention is for the referendum "to be within the first half of the five-year term".
Earlier this week, the Scottish Greens' manifesto confirmed the party wanted a referendum to be held before 2026.
Alba is campaigning for an independence "supermajority" in the Scottish Parliament.
The party insists negotiations with the UK Government should begin on "week one" of a new pro-independence parliament.
Mr Salmond said: "The SNP says a referendum may not be held until after 2023, the Greens say they’re willing to wait as long as 2026 – on those terms, Scotland would be looking at the prospect of not being able to secure independence any earlier than 2028.
"If that were to be the case, then it means that the Scottish Parliament won’t be equipped with the powers it needs to drive our long term recovery from Covid, but instead it will be Boris Johnson that decides how we recover for us.
"This means several more years of governments the people of Scotland don’t vote for being imposed upon us.
"It means over £200 billion will be spent on a new generation of weapons of mass destruction upon the Clyde, and that Scotland’s Government will have no say, none whatsoever, on the economic recovery from the coronavirus.
"Alba are now the only party making the need for Scotland to be independent an immediate priority.
"When Alba helps deliver a supermajority for independence we will bring forward proposals to instruct the Scottish Government to commence independence negotiations with the UK Government in the first week of the new parliament."
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