'If Third Front forms govt at Centre, Left would join it'

KOLKATA: Veteran Marxist Jyoti Basu made no bones about it on Tuesday. That it would be tough for the Third Front to form a government in Delhi.

But he added that "if the Third Front actually wins a majority and forms a government at the Centre, the Left parties would join it". He spoke to reporters after inaugurating a website of CPIM���s Jadavpur Lok Sabha candidate Sujan Chakraborty at his Salt Lake residence on Tuesday.

Mr Basu also maintained that the Third Front was the only alternative to both the UPA and NDA. "Even though it is difficult for the Third Front to come to power, serious efforts are being made to defeat both the UPA and NDA, and should it come to power, all Left parties will join its government," the veteran Marxist said.

"Last time, we did not join the UPA government, but this time we will, if the Third Front comes to power," Mr Basu
said in tune with the CPIM all-India general secretary Prakash Karat���s observations made on Monday in Delhi about the Left parties joining a third alternative government.

After the Lok Sabha elections were over in 2004, the CPIM had given conditional support to the UPA government from the outside. The CPIM and three other Left parties -- the CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc -- did not join the government, but supported it from outside on the basis of a common minimum programme (CMP) drafted in consultation with the Left parties. The CPIM had also accepted the proposal of Lok Sabha speakership for the party MP from Bolpur in West Bengal, Somnath Chatterjee.

Since the CPIM is playing a crucial role in formation of the Third Front, party leaders have discussed the issue of joining the government in Delhi if its pet political combination really manages to win a majority. But party insiders also conceded they weren���t too optimistic about the Third Front���s remarkable electoral prospects.

Pranab Mukherjee to be in Jangipur on Wednesday

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee will visit his parliamentary constituency of Jangipur on Wednesday, Congress sources said on Tuesday. Mr Mukherjee will also hold a few rallies at Suti and Lalgola on March 19 and 20. He will be back in Kolkata on March 21 when he is scheduled to hold talks with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee over the issue of holding joint campaigns for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) is yet to announce the names of its candidates in three West Bengal Lok Sabha constituencies of Murshidabad, Darjeeling and Malda North. Congress sources in Kolkata said on Tuesday that the party high command would announce the names within a day or two.

Meanwhile, the Union minister of state for commerce and Congress spokesperson Aswini Kumar will visit Kolkata on Wednesday and hold talks with state party leaders over preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.