Third Front leaders in touch with Patnaik to rope him in

Third Front leaders in touch with Patnaik to rope him in

Dobaspet (Karnataka) (PTI): CPI leader A B Bardhan said on Thursday that Third Front leaders were in touch with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who severed ties with the BJP, to rope his party Biju Janata Dal into the coalition.

"We will leave it to Naveen Patnaik...what he does in Orissa. We are patient. We will give him time (to join the Third Front). He is taking his time. Let him take his decision", Mr. Bardhan told a rally here where the Third Front was formally launched.

There were expectations in the Third Front that the BJD would send a representative to the rally but it was not to be. Mr. Bardhan said Third Front leaders, including JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, were in touch with Patnaik. "We are very confident that he (Patnaik) will never go with the Congress nor will he go with the BJP", he said. "They (BJD) will find their way to us (Third Front) and they will be with us".

Referring to BJP stalwart L K Advani's statement that there can be only two Fronts -- one led by the BJP and the other by the Congress, Mr. Bardhan said the BJP-led Front itself has "receded far into the background" while some of the allies of the Congress are offering it, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, low number of seats. "That's the fate of the so-called national party (Congress)", he added.