Third front experiment will prove costly for country: Modi

Says parties advocating such a front emerged and got established on basis of anti-Congress politics

BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today downplayed talk of the emergence of a third front, saying the "experiment" will prove "costly" for the country which needed a government that could take decisions and come up to the people's expectations.

"It is my firm belief that the country is at a decisive stage where such an experiment (of a third front) would prove costly. The country needs a government that can take decisions and come up to the expectations of the people," he told Hindi daily 'Dainik Jagran' in an interview.

Modi said all the parties who are advocating such a front emerged and got established on the basis of anti-Congress politics but were forced to join hands with Congress due to political opportunism at one time or the other.

"And now when there is an anger against Congress in the country, those working towards the third front are in a way actually helping Congress," he said.

Promising to root out corruption by adopting a "zero tolerance" policy towards it, the Gujarat Chief Minister made a veiled attack on the country's top political leadership, saying if they are "themselves corrupt or give their silent approval to corruption due to their own weaknesses, then who will stop it."

He said for curbing corruption, what is need is that the top political leadership should be "credible".

The former India captain said he was enjoying his life post retirement and has played cricket at home with his 14-year-old son Arjun.

"I am enjoying my life after retirement. I haven't played cricket...Just a couple of times with my son Arjun and his school friends in the house itself. Other than that, I have not played cricket but with this big bat and wagon wheel, I am tempted to have a go," he said referring to the large steel bat which has been unveiled as a monument near his residence on the Carter Road Promenade.

The steel bat stands more than 25 feet high and weighs over two tonnes. The "Bat of Honour" is crafted out of stainless steel - and Tendulkar's emotional farewell speech has also been etched on a plaque below the installation.

Describing the structure, Tendulkar said, "It's a two tonne bat, so you can imagine how much effort it has taken for the curator to put this together. The gap in between, the colour is blue because I played for India and India has blue colour 'bleed blue'. So this is what the idea was, his thought was. And the wagon wheel, all these things are special. To have this mega structure, it's really heart warming."

Tendulkar advised budding cricketers to fall in love with the game and not resort to short-cuts when faced with tough times.

"Generally talking about passion in life, you have to understand one thing, cricket first should be in your heart and then findits way to your brain. In the sense, once you start playing cricket, you figure out how to score runs and take wickets.

"Hard work is obviously important. People will notice all those things but satisfaction will not be noticed by anyone, only you will know within if you are satisfied with your efforts. There will be tough patches in between, but don't cheat. Don't find short-cuts because eventually you will be cheating yourself. Go out and chase your dreams. It is important to dream and even more important to chase your dreams," he said.