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`Third front' likely to take shape after polls

Special Correspondent

Leaders to meet in Tirupati, says Natwar Singh

LUCKNOW: A broader political alliance comprising the Samajwadi Party, the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Telugu Desam Party, the Asom Gana Parishad and the Indian National Lok Dal is likely to take shape after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, INLD president Om Prakash Chautala have campaigned for the Mulayam Singh-led ruling Samajwadi Party in the State. Besides these leaders, SP MP S. Bangarappa is the fourth former Chief Minister to explore the possibility of forming an alternative sans the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level.

The former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh on Wednesday said the leaders, including Mr. Mulayam Singh, were scheduled to meet at Tirupati immediately after the elections. The meeting was being held at the initiative of Mr. Naidu, who did not want the efforts to be limited to the Uttar Pradesh elections. The next meeting would be held in Chennai.

Mr. Natwar Singh, who was suspended from the Congress, campaigned vigorously for the SP and shared the dais with these leaders in the Bareilly and Allahabad election meetings. He told reporters that he wanted a similar experiment to be replicated in his home State, Rajasthan, where Assembly elections were due in 2008. The people of the State were keen to have a "third alternative" at the helm of affairs, rather than the Congress or the BJP, he said. Without going into the numbers game, he said the SP was doing well in some areas. Lauding Mr. Mulayam Singh for his untiring efforts, he said he was hopeful that the SP would gain in the remaining three phases of the Assembly polls.

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