Third Front not to project PM candidate ahead of Lok Sabha elections: Bardhan

Bhubaneswar, Mar 13 (ANI): The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Friday said that the Third Front would not announce any candidate for Prime Minister's post before the Lok Sabha elections are held.

"The Third Front will not project anyone as its Prime Ministerial candidate during electioneering," said A. B. Bardhan, General Secretary of CPI.

Bardhan said the question of Prime Minister would be taken into consideration only after the elections.

Bardhan also said he would meet the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss his party's participation in the Third Front.

Bardhan's remark came a day after the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati's senior representative S. C. Mishra said at the Third Front rally in Karnataka's Tumkur district that the party wanted to make Mayawati prime minister.

However, the TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidu said the Front will have a meeting with Mayawati on March 15 to discuss issues like its prime ministerial candidate.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Sitaram Yechury has already met Patnaik on March 8 to persuade him to join the Third Front.

The Janata Dal- Secular (JD-S) leader H. D. Deve Gowda and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu had also spoken to the BJD supremo on the subject.

The BJD, however, has refused to participate in any front before the elections though it will enter into seat-sharing arrangement with some parties, including the Left. (ANI)