Despite setback, Third Front puts on a brave face

Even as Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa pulled out of her alliance with the Left parties, and effectively out of the Third Front, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a moving force behind formation of a Third Front, said on Thursday he would make for a more competent Prime Minister than others in the race.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief ended the alliance ostensibly because she did not want to give the Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), and Communist Party of India (CPI) – more than one Lok Sabha seat each. Notably, Jayalalithaa had supported the CPI for a Rajya Sabha seat only a few months ago.

However, it is more likely this is a precursor to the AIADMK eventually joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government at the Centre. The end of the alliance also means one of the most powerful leaders in the Third Front has now withdrawn from it.

However, determined not to let the anti-BJP, anti-Congress alliance sink, Kumar said he could always be the Third Front’s Prime Ministerial candidate, because he was more experienced and competent than those supposedly candidates for the job.

"The people who are roaming around today as candidates for PM, do they have any experience like me? People who aspire to lead parliament, do they have any experience in parliament?"