Karat hopeful of Third Front ahead of Lok Sabha elections

Slamming the Congress and BJP for pursuing 'identical pro-capitalist economic policies', CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today expressed confidence that the Third Front would come into being ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Stating that the country needed new ideas and initiatives to contain price rise, corruption and growing inequality among the people, Karat said that Left parties and other parties got together recently for a Third Front to provide an alternative to the BJP and the Congress.
Given the similarity of their economic policies, both Congress and BJP could not be an alternative to each other which left the Third Front as the only viable alternative at the national level, he claimed at a public meeting at the Gandhi Maidan here.

He said that 11 political parties had recently come together to discuss the idea of a Third Front and a crucial meeting will be held in New Delhi on February 25 to work out its contours and policies and programmes.
Criticising the Congress-led UPA government for being unable to contain price rise and corruption during its ten-year rule, Karat said that inequality among the people has widened due to a pro-capitalist leaning of the incumbent government.