Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has said that the Third Front won't compromise on the fight against communalism. (File photo)
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the de-facto head of the Janata Dal (United), today said that the Third Front, the coalition of 11 anti-Congress, anti-BJP parties, will not compromise on its principle of combating communalism.
"Our main fight is with the communal forces in Bihar. There can be no compromise on our principles, Nitish Kumar told reporters soon after landing in the capital to attend the meeting of the Third Front this afternoon. Leaders of seven regional parties and the four Left Front partners are expected to resume discussions on drawing up a common charter of programmes.
Third Front experiments in India, as an alternative to a Congress-led or a BJP-led coalition, have been notoriously short-lived, mainly because of the Prime Ministerial ambitions of the constituent parties.
Wiser from past experiences, the Left parties have now given a call to ask for neetis (policies) and not netas (leaders). Sources say Left leaders are like to present three broad areas where the parties can work together. One of the themes that links these parties is, of course, their anti-communalism plank.
Left parties will also present an alternative economic model that will focus on providing relief to consumers from price rise. The alternative model will talk about a growth-model driven by large-scale investments in infrastructure sector to create more jobs.
Left wants huge public investments in the agriculture sector and fast tracking of legislations to ensure land reforms.
The third major area of focus would be to bring in the concept of accountability in governance. This is an obvious attempt to counter the anti-corruption plank of the Aam Aadmi Party, which has emerged as an attractive platform for people disillusioned with the two main political players. The plank is now being sought to be re-appropriated by the Congress.