he AIADMK has teamed up with the CPI and the CPIM to fight the coming Lok Sabha elections. The Third Front is in an embryonic state. The Left parties have also opened negotiations with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in Bihar, Naveen Patnaik’s BJD In Odhisha, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress in Andhra, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and Deve Gowda’s JD(S). But the agenda of the possible Third Front is undefined. The fact that the constituents are equidistant from the Congress and the BJP does not provide a strong enough bond. Besides, the Third Front constituents are all regional parties. The Left had in the past put such a Third Front together. But the Left Front today is more or less washed out. It is fighting for a toehold in West Bengal and somehow carrying on in Kerala.
The Third Front has to target at least one hundred seats in the Lok Sabha polls. This is a tall order considering the BJP is likely to make a significant headway in UP and Bihar. That leaves Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. But the Trinamool and the CPI (M) can never meet whatever may be the political compulsions. Similarly, the SP and the BSP can never join hands. Then there is the question of who should be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Third Front? Only Mamata can aspire to be Prime Minister with 40 seats in the Lok Sabha! If the NDA hits the 200 mark, many of the parties in the proposed Front except the Left can start horse trading. However, the Aam Aadmi Party can sap the BJP’s strength to some extent and that may be to the Third Front’s advantage. However, for the Left it would have been much more prudent if it decided to offer support to the UPA from outside as it did in the past.
