Taking center stage in the ongoing efforts of creating 'a viable alternative to both the Congress and the BJP', former chief minister and AIADMKsupremo J Jayalalithaa today announced the formation of a third front with eight political parties, including MDMK and Kerala Congress as last minute entrants.Addressing a joint press conference at former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's residence after an over two-hour long meeting with the top leaders of seven other political parties, Jayalalithaa said the formal name and leadership of the new front along with their stand on the Presidential candidate would be decided in the third meeting to be held at Chennai. "Many more political parties are also going to join us at the Chennai meeting," she declared while keeping their names and the date of the meeting under wraps. The leaders had first met at Allahabad during the Uttar Pradesh elections.Today's meeting was attended by six former chief ministers including Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal), Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha) and Bangarappa (Samajwadi Party) along with MDMK president Vaiko, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Brindaban Goswami and Amar Singh (Samajwadi Party). Kerala Congress chief Thomas had sent his letter of support. The leaders claimed that they were coming together on the issues of nation-building and not out of power greed.Waging a frontal attack on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the economic policies of the UPA government, the meeting of the seven political partiesvouched to strive for a new economic policy to take care of farmers, poor and middle classes, which, according to them, has to be implemented by the central government.
