The nation is looking forward to a third alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose focus will be on policies and programmes and not the prime ministerial candidate, Janata Dal (S) national president Deve Gowda has said.
Mr. Gowda told reporters here on Sunday that the third front would comprise regional parties and the Left parties which had been maintaining an equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP.
This common platform needs to be constituted on the basis of policies and programmes. He had already aired his opinion to various leaders to initiate a discussion to iron out the policies to form the front.
The Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Nationalist Congress Party headed by Sharad Pawar, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar and all others can become part of the front. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri had earlier taken a major role in forming the front. Mr. Gowda said he had expressed the need to them as well as the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader A.B. Bardhan too.
The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and the defeat meted out to the Congress and the BJP in the four Assembly elections are indicators of the need to form the third front. Asked about the stability of the third front, Mr.Gowda said an earlier combination of 13 parties used to go together without any discord and it was not a concern at all.