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Deve Gowda upbeat about Third Front

Special Correspondent

Deve Gowda

LUCKNOW: Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Monday said the Third Front would take shape before the next Lok Sabha elections. Mr. Gowda said there was no option, before the parties opposed to the policies of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, but to come on a common platform. He said a political alternative was a certainty before the next general elections.

Addressing a regional convention of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the JD(S) here, he lauded Chief Minister Mayawati and the people of the State for giving a stable government after a gap of 17 years. Stating that the agriculture sector was on the verge of collapse, Mr. Gowda said the BJP and the Congress were committed to the western economic policies and they would not change them as they were under U.S. pressure.

He said the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Manmohan Singh government claimed that considerable progress had been made, but the fact was that there was all-round deterioration.

Mr. Gowda said the recent World Bank report revealed that poverty and unemployment increased and migration to cities become more marked after the farm sector crisis.

He said malnutrition and farmers’ suicide had emerged as major problem areas with 52 per cent of the population under-nourished and suffering from poverty. He warned that the country might soon face the problem of food security.

Unless the economic policies were revised, the farm sector would not be able to progress, Mr. Deve Gowda said. He slammed the government for ignoring the rural sector and said U.S.-dictated policies could not be a solution to the problems confronting the country.

He assailed the Orissa and UPA governments for their failure to control the situation in Orissa, where “Christians have been subjected to attacks.”

On the Amarnath land controversy, Mr. Gowda said the moves of some parties to separate Jammu and the Kashmir valley now threatened to divide the nation.

Talking to reporters after the convention, Mr. Gowda reiterated his support to Ms. Mayawati as leader of the Third Front. Since it had not yet taken shape, the issue of leadership would be decided by the leaders of the Left and other parties. “The Janata Dal (S) is not a big force,” he stated.

Mr. Deve Gowda said he had told all the leaders that the front must address the sufferings of the masses. He refused to comment on the Samajwadi Party president and “old friend” Mulayam Singh joining hands with the Congress.

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