Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Third front is a distant possibility, says Ajit Singh

Special Correspondent

`Left cannot form an alternative to BJP, Congress on its own'

GULBARGA: The former Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh said on Sunday that the emergence of a broad-based third front as an alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a distant possibility.

Mr. Singh told presspersons that the outcome of the results in the recent elections had proved that the national parties were shrinking and the regional political parties were gaining a foothold in their respective areas.

He said although the Left parties performed well in West Bengal and Kerala, on their own they could not form a third front to challenge the BJP and the Congress.

The Left parties had performed well in a few other States only because of their alignment with the regional parties.

About the election scenario in Uttar Pradesh, which would be going to polls in eight months, Mr. Singh said at present everything appeared to be hazy.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal was part of the Samajwadi Party-led coalition in Uttar Pradesh.

It had not taken any final decision on aligning with the Samajwadi Party in the next Assembly elections.

To a question, he said the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was likely to go it alone in the elections and later seek the support of the Congress to form the Government in Uttar Pradesh.

He said no political party would be able to capture power on its own in Uttar Pradesh.

Deve Gowda critcised

Mr. Singh, who criticised the Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda for aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the Government in Karnataka, termed the action of Mr. Deve Gowda as mortgaging the secular principles. His action in sidelining senior leaders, including Siddaramaiah, to ensure that his son H.D. Kumaraswamy became the Chief Minister, was "diabolical". "I have heard about people getting sun stroke during summer due to excessive heat. But in the case of Mr. Deve Gowda, it was son stroke, which has blinded his secular ideals," Mr. Singh added.

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