Enough room for non-Cong, non-BJP formation post polls:Bardhan

Maintaining that there was ample political space in the country to accommodate non-Congress and non-BJP forces, senior CPI leader A B Bardhan today said there were many Chief Ministers among the 11 parties firming up to form a Third Front, who could be elevated as their Prime Minister after the Lok Sabha polls.
"In case these parties are able to get a majority in the Lok Sabha polls, there are many Chief Ministers among us and anyone of them could occupy the top post," Bardhan told reporters here.
"After all, BJP's Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi is also only a Chief Minister of Gujarat," he said.

Asked if AAP could also join this conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, the former CPI General Secretary said that it could do so as the party was also opposed to both the Congress and the BJP.
"But that party has to take the final decision on it," Bardhan said.
Criticising the BJP for declaring Narendra Modi as its PM candidate much before the Lok Sabha elections, Bardhan said, "there is no provision for a Prime Minister in-waiting in the Indian constitution."

On Modi's credentials, he said that nobody can forget his role during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
"It does not matter if he had been given a clean chit by some probe agencies," the CPI veteran said.

Modi is such a person who can both be a liability as well as an asset for the BJP, he felt.
It was because of Modi that the Janata Dal (U) which had been an ally of the BJP in the NDA, parted ways from the combine, Bardhan said.
About US softening its stand on Modi, Bardhan said he did not attach much importance to it.
"I think this is a very trivial matter," he said.
"The US has historically always supported all those who it thinks are opposed to the Left and its softening towards Modi must be seen in this context," he added.