West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is likely to be among the top three prime ministerial candidates of the CPI(M) for the Third Front.
Speaking at a press meet in Kolkata, Prakash Karat,general secretary, CPI(M) said, “Every party in the Third Front has its own prime ministerial candidate and it would be only after the polls that the Third Front would decide on the Prime Minister on the basis of a broad consensus."
He said, while the Bahujan Samajwadi Party was projecting Mayawati as its prime ministerial candidate, all our alliance partners like Chandra Babu Naidu, Naveen Patnaik, Jayalalitha have experience in running their respective state governments.
"We have Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to consider" added Karat.
Karat pointed out that the CPI(M) has three chief ministers experienced in running government, so they could stake a claim.
“Unlike Congress or BJP, our alliance is a federal alliance and its nothing like an imposition from the top,” Karat said.
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Karat ruled out all chances of aligning with the Congress even as it felt that it would be wise of the Congress to support a Left-led Third Front government. “Post-poll there is no question of aligning with the Congress. All the alliance partners in the Third Front are working to form a non-Congress and a non-BJP government and that objective will not be dissolved," he said
When asked whether the Third Front would take Congress support in case it required to form a government, he said “ I wish the Congress has the wisdom to support a Left-led Third Front government.”
Karat felt that there would be further post-poll realignments with more of the NDA and UPA alliance partners breaking away to join the Third Front as the spirit of the politics at this time was forming an anti Congress and an anti BJP government.
“While the combination of the Third Front has expanded the combination of the UPA and the NDA has contracted,” Karat said.
He emphasised on the Left's role in the economy saying that it was for the Left that the Indian economy has been saved in a situation of global economic recession.
“The government wanted the foreign banks to take control of the Indian private sector banks, we didn’t allow. The government wanted FDI in insurance to go up from 26 per cent to 49 per cent and we didn’t allow. AIG has been practically taken over by the American government and our government wanted such companies to take control of the Indian Insurance sector,” Karat said.
The Third Front has an alternative economic policy and an independent foreign policy on whose basis it would form a non-BJP and a non-Congress government, Karat said.
Speaking about the possible results in Bengal with the Trinamool gaining ground after aligning with Congress, Karat said that it would be a difficult fight this time, but not something very unusual. The party had faced such alliances of opposition earlier also, he said.