Akhilesh Yadav optimistic about Third Front

Says there is a need for third option

As parties other than Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in power in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, they were likely to win more seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and there was every possibility of formation of a Third Front, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Saturday.

Accusing development was a ‘lost cause’ for the Congress and BJP, Yadav said, “For the ruling party (Congress) and main opposition (BJP) development is a lost cause now...in these circumstances there is a need for a third option in the country.”

The senior Samajwadi Party leader told reporters that whether Third Front or any other name given to such a coalition, it would be against communal forces and oppose the “anti-people” policies of the Congress-led UPA. Asked if BJP would be acceptable if it leaves out its ‘communal agenda’, Yadav said it was not possible for it to leave out such issues. On October 30, 14 parties, along with the Left, took part in an anti-communal convention in Delhi, considered as efforts to bring together non-Congress and non-BJP parties on a single platform.

Samajwadi party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar were the star speakers there.

When asked if the RJD will be part of the combine, he replied in the affirmative. Chapra, the district headquarters of Saran district, is the Lok Sabha constituency of RJD President Lalu Prasad who has been disqualified after being sentenced to five years imprisonment in a fodder scam case. The area is dominated by the Yadav caste.

He said that his government has fulfilled about 80 per cent of the promises made in the polls.

Describing distribution of free laptops to 12th standard students as a unique scheme, he said about 15 lakh students have been given the gadget so far.