By NNN-PTI,
Dobespet (Karna, India) : A ‘third force’, a coalition of Left and regional parties, was formally launched Thursday offering an alternative to the combines spearheaded by the Congress and BJP, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections (Lower House of Parliament).
Addressing a massive gathering, leaders of the third force vowed to provide new economic policies.
“We represent the diversity of India,” CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat told the rally which was attended by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, JDS chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who is playing a key role in forming the new amalgamation, and CPI leader A B Bardhan.
BSP and AIDMK leaders Satish Chandra Mishra and V Maitreyan and representatives of Forward Bloc, RSP, TRS and Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janahith Party were also present.
Karat said the third force represents parties and groups which would provide new economic policies. “We want a federal state. We are against centralisation of powers in Delhi,” he said, adding all states should have adequate power.
Launching the ‘third force’, the Left and major regional parties said both the Congress and the BJP had failed to address people’s grievances.
Addressing a massive rally here, leaders of these parties announced that they had come together to provide a “new alternative” to the voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
“This is a historic get together of all democratic, secular and Left parties in the country to declare that we are all coming together to constitute a third force in this country,” Karat said.
He said the third force stood for the interests of the vast masses for the firm defence of secularism against communal forces. The platform, he said, would fight for social justice for the oppressed sections.
Joined by CPI leader A B Bardhan, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda among others, Karat said, “Today we have come together because the country needs a new alternative.”
Bardhan said the front was in touch with leaders of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal which snapped ties with BJP, ending their 11-year-old tie-up.
Expressing optimism that the BJD would join the front, he said, “He (Patnaik) is taking time.” BJD, however, has not indicated its preference for any front.