Third front possible only after 2014 polls: CPI

Amid speculation over the formation of a federal front, the Communist Party of India (CPI) Friday said such a grouping was possible but only after the 2014 polls and should have a common programme to attract the voters.

"A third front is possible but only after the polls. The parties would like to contest the polls on their own strength," CPI leader A.B. Bardhan said.

"I wonder why people would vote for a group of regional parties if there was no common agenda. I don't think they are going to do it just like that," he told reporters after meeting Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

There is speculation about the formation of a federal front after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress, said she had discussed the idea with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik. Nitish Kumar is a Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and Naveen Patnaik heads the Biju Janata Dal.

The JD-U-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in Bihar is under severe strain after the BJP elevated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its 2014 poll campaign chief.

Bardhan said he spoke to Nitish Kumar as well.