By IANS,
Hyderabad : Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu Sunday said the Third Front would not project any leader as Prime Minister candidate.
Expressing confidence that the Third Front would form the next government at the centre, Naidu, a key leader of the grouping, said the new prime minister would be announced after elections through consensus among all the constituents.
The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister predicted 1996-like results. He was talking to reporters here before leaving for New Delhi to attend a dinner hosted by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for Third Front leaders.
Naidu’s comments were significant in view of the reports that Maywati was keen to be projected as a prime minister candidate. He claimed that Maywati had not made any such demand and blamed media for the confusion.
He said several political parties have come together to work before the elections and they will form a coalition after the polls.
“There are so many parties and we have to work with them. We have to bring consensus. Then only we can announce a name (for prime minister),” he said.
Naidu recalled that since 1996 all the alliances at the centre were formed only after the elections. Even the present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the earlier National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were formed after the polls.
“We are trying to provide an alternative. 1996 will be repeated when all the parties had contested independently and after the elections joined hands to provide good governance,” he said.
Called United Front, these parties provided two short-lived governments led by H.D.Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral before the polls paved the way for the BJP-led NDA regimes with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the prime minister.