Not sure if 2014 LS elections will throw a solid government: Chidambaram

Faced with a hung Assembly in Delhi polls, where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged strongly, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the nation could face a similar scenario after the next general elections.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Faced with a hung Assembly in Delhi polls, where the newly-formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as a major force, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the nation could face a similar scenario after the next general elections. Speaking at the 20th anniversary of National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai, Chidambaram said, “I am not sure if 2014 general elections will throw a solid government. But if it does, then that could be a turning point to get over our weakness.” The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the clear winner in three big states – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan that went to the polls. Polls in Delhi ended up with a split result. Major political parties have time and again expressed similar thoughts about emergence of regional parties being a big factor in the 2014 general elections. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has in the past claimed that neither the BJP nor the Congress would get a majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, while also dismissing the possibility of emergence of a Third Front. "In such a condition parties opposed to Congress and BJP hold importance," Kumar told. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has even gone to the extent of saying that regional parties and satraps will form a “Third Front” (sans Congress and BJP) and form the next government at the Centre West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too has mulled the idea of being the part of a ‘Federal front’ after the next general elections. "I love federal front...I always favour this federal structure but am in favour of a stable government also...It`s a people`s choice. I cannot say, I am not a political astrologer," she told. While Left party leaders like CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat say they are open to the idea of a non-Congress/BJP alliance. Any probable `Third Front` in national politics would emerge only after the next General Elections in 2014 and not before the polls, he remarked. Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath had on Sunday informed that the next general elections would be held in multiple phases in 2014 and the 16th Lok Sabha would be constituted by June 1.