Opposition stalwarts launch 'Third Front'

Several smaller political parties formally launched the so called 'Third Front' yesterday in a bid by these parties to provide an alternative to the ruling Congress party and its arch rival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Delhi state assembly elections with leaders claiming they plan to extend their experiment countrywide, saying such a front is the need of the day in Indian politics.

The leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan, Samajwadi Janata Party of ex-premier Chandra Shekhar, Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh and the Left parties joined hands to launch the Third Front while the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav has assured its full support to this front.

The Front has announced its candidates will contest all 70 seats of the Delhi state assembly, asserting it will have nothing to do with either the Congress or the BJP.

"Delhi always had either BJP or the Congress governments. Although 70 per cent of Delhi's population live in shanties, resettlement colonies or in illegal-unauthorised colonies, justice has not been done to them by either of the two parties.

"There was a need for such a front in the capital and we have come up with this after sustained dialogue lasting seven months," Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national vice president Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said while addressing a press conference to mark the Third Front's launch.

Besides a better deal for the underprivileged class of the society, the Third Front wants full statehood to be granted to Delhi. It's target are mainly migrants from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal states, who constitute roughly 35 per cent of Delhi's 13 million residents.

The launch of the Third Front is the second such attempt in Delhi politics. Earlier in 1993, the United Front had contested the Delhi polls. It won only four seats, but by polling 15 per cent of the vote, it ate into the Congress vote and helped the BJP win.

The Congress party, however, wrested power from the BJP in 1998. By that time, the United Front had become defunct.

JD (S) senior national vice president and former Delhi Lt. Governor Romesh Bhandari compared the Third Front with the ruling People's Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that like the people of JK, the people of Delhi too are looking for a viable alternative to both the Congress and the BJP.

The Third Front proposes to start campaigning in all 70 constituencies from July 1, saying that besides the top leaders of alliance partners, former prime minister V.P. Singh and I.K. Gujral will also campaign for its candidates.