After launching the “third force”, leaders of these parties addressing a massive crowd said that they had come together for a good cause so as to provide a “new alternative” to the voters ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, at a time when people have known that the two national parties have failed to address people’s grievances and fulfill their aspirations.
CPM General Secretary, Prakash Karat, in his address to the people said, “Today we have come together because the country needs a new alternative. Future of this country does not lie either with Congress or the BJP.” Karat was joined by other bigwigs, CPI leader A B Bardhan, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and former prime minister and JDS president H D Deve Gowda, among others.
Comparing Third Front with the United Front (UF) formed 13 years ago in 1996 under H D Deve Gowda as an alternative to the Congress and BJP, Karat said again time is calling for a new alternative in the country; hence we the secular, democratic and regional parties have come together.
The Third Front is an amalgamation of Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and the founding member Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). In addition Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), though not formally announced, is believed to be in the Third Front.
Bardhan asserted that the AIADMK and BSP were with the Front and not fence-sitters. The supremos of AIADMK and BSP, Jayalalithaa and Mayawati, skipped the function, but their representatives V Maitreyan and Satish Chandra Mishra were present at the rally.
Earlier in the day, asked about the agenda of the Third Front, Deve Gowda said: “We are going to launch the Third Front and all parties are rallying around us. Not now, but the message regarding common agenda will be given at the convention later in the day following the official launch of the Third Front.”
As per the JD (S), Mayawati has agreed to be part of the front. “We are happy and proud that Mayawati has decided to identify herself with Third Front. She has deputed her representative, Satish Mishra, BSP general secretary,’’ JD(S) spokesperson Y S V Datta said.
Also, leaders are hopeful that Orissa Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik, who last week parted ways with the BJP, will soon join the group.
“One thing is clear. Naveen is not with the Congress. He broke away with the BJP,” said CPI general secretary A. Bardhan, who rejected the issue of prime minister would later turn to be hue and cry within the party. “We have several leaders who are very good prime ministerial material. But we will decide after the polls,” he added.
