Naveens 3rd front idea left in the lurch

BHUBANESWAR: Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has mooted a non-Congress and non-BJP third alternative, the Opposition Left parties are not optimistic about such a formation.  ‘’Such an experiment in the past failed due to ideological differences and it may not be feasible this time,’’ said CPM State secretary Janardan Pati. Asserting that no single party is in a position to come to power at the Centre, Pati said coalition politics is going to be the order of the day for sometime. However, a third alternative will be a reality if the formation is based on policies rather than political expediency, he remarked. Subscribing to the views of Pati, CPI State secretary Dibakar Nayak said there is space for a third front as the Congress and the BJP are not in a position to form government on their own. A third alternative will be possible only if the constituents reach a common ground on foreign and economic policies. Ironically, most of the regional parties were aligned either to the Congress or the BJP at some point of time or other. Even some of the regional parties are very much in tandem with the two principal parties. Referring to the United Front government at the Centre led by HD Deve Gowda in 1996, Pati said it was a coalition of 13 parties with the Congress and the CPM providing support from outside. The Government could not last long following withdrawal of support by the Congress. The BJD came to power in the State in alliance with the BJP in 2000 and the coalition government continued for nine years till 2009. Naveen realised that the BJP was a communal party just before the last general election, he said. There is no difference between the BJD and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Mamata Banerjee. At one point of time the TMC was part of the NDA Government and at present, it is part of the UPA Government at the Centre. Similar was the case with the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party and the ruling BSP led by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, he said. A political formation opposed to the Congress and the BJP is not possible without the Left parties, he said. Any understanding with the Left will be based on certain policies, he added. Senior BJP leader Biswabhusan Harichandan also ruled out the possibility of a third front saying the same was experimented in the past but never succeeded.