Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee bashes PM; reiterates prospect of Third Front

Kolkata, May 9 : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday advocated the option for third front alleging that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has failed on all fronts.

Addressing a news conference in Kolkata today Bhattacharjee said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been facing defeat in almost all states since UPA came to power.

He listed failure to check rising prices as one of the major failures of UPA of which left parties are a part.

"I have great regard for him but as a Prime Minister he is failing to perform in all sectors, particularly could not control the inflation, the prices of the essential commodities and they are facing the music in all the states," said Bhattacharjee.

"After he took over they faced elections in three-four states, in all the states they got defeated. This is a very alarming situation and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is taking advantage of this situation. Therefore our position is very clear. We have decided in our party congress that on one side we just cannot support BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), we cannot support communist led UPA. We have to try and forge a third alternative," added Bhattacharjee.

The newly constituted politburo of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had its meeting in Kolkata recently where they decided the possibility of forming the third front as an alternative to the BJP-led NDA and Congress party led ruling UPA.

The communist parties are supporting the UPA government at the centre from outside.

The inflation is running at a 3-year high at 7.61 per cent. The government says that it has taken measures to check inflation and it will take some time to show results.

General elections in the country are due in less than a year setting the stage for political permutations and combinations.

ANI