'Third Front' closes ranks following Karnataka poll loss

New Delhi, May 27 : The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)], both members of the 'Third Front', have closed ranks in the wake of the setback suffered in the Karnataka Assembly and West Bengal local body elections.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and party general Secretary Amar Singh, me CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat here to sort out differences on the Women's Reservation Bill issue.

After the meeting, Amar Singh said: "The SP and the Left parties are united on 90 to 99 percent of the issues, we only differ on the Women's Reservation Bill. Today, we have assured Comrade Karat and his colleagues that there is no difference between us. In future, if we have any difference, we would solve it through dialogue rather than in Parliament."

The Left parties are supportive of the Women's Reservation Bill, which aim at reserving 33 percent seats for women in legislatures, while the Samajwadi Party wants defined quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) within the 33 percent quota.

Tuesday's meeting assumes significance in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being voted to power in Karnataka and BJP ally Trinamool Congress making inroads in the CPI (M) bastion of West Bengal.

The CPI (M) failed to win even a single seat in the Karnataka Assembly, while it lost in the key constituencies of Singur and Nandigram on the issue of land acquisition in West Bengal.

Various regional political parties have cobbled up the 'Third Front' in an attempt to have an alternative to the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

However, the 'Third Front' is yet to take off.

ANI