Yesterday once more: Eight parties launch third front

Taking centre stage in the ongoing efforts to create a "viable alternative to both the Congress and the BJP", former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today announced the formation of a third front with eight political parties, including MDMK and Kerala Congress as last minute entrants.

Addressing a joint press conference at former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's residence after over a two-hour long meeting with the top leaders of the seven political parties, Jayalalithaa said the formal name and leadership of the new front along with its stand on the Presidential candidate would be decided in their meeting to be held in Chennai.

"Many more political parties are also going to join us at the Chennai meeting," she declared while keeping their names and the date of the meeting under wraps. The leaders had first met at Allahabad during the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Today's meeting was attended by six former chief ministers including Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal), Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha) and Bangarappa along with MDMK president Vaiko, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Brindaban Goswami and Amar Singh (Samajwadi Party).

Kerala Congress chief Thomas had sent his letter of support. The leaders claimed that they were coming together on the issues of nation-building and not out of greed for power.

Waging a frontal attack on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the economic policies of the UPA government, the meeting of the seven political parties vouched to strive for a new economic policy to take care of farmers, poor and middle classes.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself admitted that the real benefits of the country's development did not reach the common man. We are extremely concerned about the rising prices of essential commodities, which are a result of wrong and skewed policies pursued by the UPA government" Jayalalithaa, the only leader who spoke on the entire agenda of today's meeting, said.

She singled out Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia for the economic hardships being faced by the common man and said they were out of touch with Indian realities as all three of them had studied abroad.

Stating that the decline in the agriculture sector also led to the economic distress in rural areas, Jayalalithaa asked the UPA government to provide subsidies to agriculture as was being done in the US.

The leaders also issued a joint statement opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal, which according to Jayalalithaa, is a deterrent to the country's interests.