It will be very difficult for the Third Front to come to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, though it is the only alternate solution for the country's development, veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu said on Tuesday.
"We need the Third Front to come to power at the centre
immediately. If that happens, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will be able to join the government this time," Basu told reporters at his Salt Lake residence in Kolkata.
"However, it will be very difficult for the Third Front to come to power. We have already failed once (in 1996) on this issue," the former West Bengal chief minister said.
The Third Front is a grouping of parties opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and therefore out of the alliances headed by them. The Third Front was launched last week in Tumkur, Karnataka, with the CPI-M as one of its key constituents.
The 95-year-old Basu however said: "The Third Front is the only alternate solution if we are aiming to form a government that will really work for the people."