Third Front to get substantial numbers: Bardhan

The Third Front expects substantial number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls and would not play second fiddle to the Congress in government formation, a top Left leader said today.      

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said that after the results are out on May 16, the Third Front would get "more numbers" and "will tell the President that we must be given a chance".      

Emerging from a meeting with his CPI(M) counterpart Prakash Karat here, he asserted that the Third Front was "totally intact" and the TRS joining the NDA would have no impact, even in Andhra Pradesh.      

The meeting, which was also attended by Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas, was called on short notice to discuss the post-poll scenario and firm up a schedule of meetings of the Left and Third Front partners.      

Asked about the meeting between JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and Congress President Sonia Gandhi last evening, Bardhan said the Karnataka leader had said yesterday itself that he was with the Third Front.      

"JD(S) has not gone (out of the Front)," he said in response to repeated questions about the meeting.

Bardhan said Kumaraswamy had made it clear that he had gone to meet Gandhi only to discuss issues relating to Karnataka. 

"I am fully confident, 100 per cent confident that JD(S) led by H D Deve Gowda is with the Third Front".      

Asked about AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa's statement that her party would take a decision after the poll results in consultation with her allies, he said "what's wrong in that? She will consult her allies which are the CPI and the CPI(M) Without discussing with us, she will not think of any option."      

On TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao joining the NDA rally in Ludhiana, the veteran communist said, "his going away will neither impact (results in) Andhra Pradesh, nor at the national level."     

To a question whether they would also talk to Samajwadi Party to join the Front, Bardhan shot back "is SP a part of the Third Front?"      he said the Left parties had appealed to all the non-Congress, non-BJP parties to form a secular government at the Centre. 

"Our doors are open for them".      

The Left parties would meet on May 17, a day after the results come out. The CPI(M) Politburo would meet on May 18 while the CPI National Executive would meet on May 19 followed by a three-day session of its National Council.      

The decision-making bodies of Forward Bloc and RSP would also be meeting on the same days.