Congress, BJP poll debacle triggers talk of Third Front

The mauling Congress and BJP suffered in the Assembly polls has triggered the talk of forming a Third Front in the country.

The talk of the Third Front was given currency after SAD's Prakash Singh Badal invited Mamata Bannerjee, Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik and other non-Congress leaders for his swearing-in ceremony on March 14.

Reacting on ally Trinamool Congress's decision to attend Badal's swearing-in, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, "Social interactions with strangers by those in partnerships is permissible, but obviously if things go beyond the normal boundaries of social courtesy, it would become immoral."

To a query on possibility of emergence of a Third Front and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reported suggestion that the NDA should be expanded, BJP leader SS Ahluwalia said, "If there is any such suggestion, we will discuss it there (NDA meeeting scheduled this evening)."

JDU Chief Sharad Yadav said there were two coalitions--NDA and the UPA--in the country. "When out of three, two come together, the real game will begin. It is too early to comment."

Union Minister Harish Rawat rubbished suggestions about the possibility of re-emergence of a Third Front.

"There is no such possibility of re-emergence of Third Front. Mamataji is an important leader of the UPA coalition and is part of it. The government will remain for full-term of five years," he said.

Rawat said the different views on issues among allies doesn't mean that there is any difference in the government.

CPI leader D Raja said it was "too early" and "premature" to read into the outcomes of the Assembly polls.

"There is a political reality in the country that regional parties have come out of the state. We have to see how regional parties while articulating the aspirations of the people of that region are fulfill national responsibilities," he said.