By IANS,
Kolkata : Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan Monday claimed that non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political parties have done “extremely well” in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls.
“From my visits to various states and the reports that I have received, I think people want to break out from the prison of the two-party system. The non-Congress and non-BJP parties have done extremely well in the first two phases of the polls,” Bardhan told reporters here.
He said there was tremendous response form the people for an alternative to both the Congress and the BJP.
He said the Third Front will win majority of the seats in both parliamentary and assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
Coming down heavily on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Bardhan said its liberalisation and globalisation programme could have spelt the country’s economic disaster had the Left parties – supporting the government from outside – not stopped the privatisation of banking and insurance sectors.
Painting a grim picture of the Indian economy, the CPI veteran said: “So far there have been 20 lakh (2 million) job cuts in the last four-five months. If the economic situation remains the same, there will be many more job cuts by 2010.”
Ridiculing the UPA’s drumbeating for the Rs.75,000 crore farm loan waiver package, he said: “Nearly 59,000 farmers committed suicide during this regime.”