The Hindu : National : Third Front will expand after polls: Biman Bose

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 10, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Third Front will expand after polls: Biman Bose

Special Correspondent

KOLKATTA: The Third Front would expand after the Lok Sabha elections, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Saturday.

There was no division in the party over keeping the Congress and the BJP at bay and going instead for the Third Front, he said, addressing a meet-the-press programme here. Many political parties were warming up to the Third Front, and efforts were being made to cobble together a government without either the Congress or the BJP, he said.

He said the 15th Lok Sabha elections were different from the last general election in that, for the first time, the Third Front started on its journey. “The background in which this election is being held is different. Earlier too, governments were formed through alliances, but they were all post-poll tie-ups. For the first time, the Third Front has started out its journey this time.”

“We are fighting the 15th Lok Sabha elections against the BJP and the Congress, but it was quite different last time when we did not categorically say this; during that time, we said we wanted to defeat the communal BJP,” he said.

He said today’s generation had tested the earlier alliances formed under the NDA and the UPA, and they knew that there was no big difference between the Congress and the BJP in their economic policies.

Asked about the prospects of the Left, Mr. Bose said the Left Front was fighting to win all 42 seats in West Bengal.

As for Nandigram, he said that all the while, the Left had said democratic rights were being curtailed in Nandigram.

“During elections what they wanted to do was to jam many booths in Nandigram under the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency. People were driven out.”

“The main Opposition party in the Assembly says democratic rights were curtailed at Nandigram. What are they doing now,” he asked, urging the administration to take firm steps to deal with the situation in Nandigram and other parts of the State, where unfortunate incidents were taking place.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National