CPI(M) takes a dig at SP's Third Front call

New Delhi, March 28: In an indirect attack on the Samajwadi Party (

), the

said Thursday that non-Congress and non-BJP parties should not form a new front only to share "the spoils of office".

"The non-Congress, non-BJP secular parties (should) give up their political opportunism of forming a front merely for the sake of sharing the spoils of office," the CPI(M) journal People's Democracy said.

Such a front should come up to form "a government that will implement alternative policies which will significantly improve the livelihood conditions of our people and create a Better India' for all Indians".

The CPI(M) editorial did not name any political party but it followed recent calls by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to form a Third Front ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

The CPI(M) editorial said it was important that political struggles must be carried out to force a change in government policies.

It said that people won't get relief "merely from a non-Congress, non-BJP government.

"Relief can only come through alternate policies. What the people require, therefore, is not merely an alternate government but a government that can implement an alternate pro-people policy direction."

It said the reason why parties like the SP that continue to bail out the Congress-led UPA government still talk about a Third Front "is because there is pressure from the SP's own political and social base for a change that will provide people some relief from their present miserable conditions of existence.

"The economic slowdown, the relentless rise in prices of all commodities, the deepening agrarian distress - are all combining to mount unprecedented agonies on the people.

"The people's cries for relief and a better livelihood find such political expressions of a 'Third Front' government."

IANS