The Third Front, comprising 11 Left and secular parties and staking its claim as the “first front”, met here on Tuesday to firm up the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative.
The members of the combination announced that they would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as one bloc to prevent the Congress and BJP from coming to power, but refused to name a prime ministerial candidate calling it a post-poll concern.
Asserting that the electoral battle would be fought as a three-cornered contest among the Congress-led UPA, BJP-led NDA and the non-Congress, non-BJP combination, Left sources said the parties would pool in their strength from their respective states for an all-India combination.
Flanked by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav on one side and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the other, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat made the announcements.