Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Leaders of Left parties, Samajwadi Party and JD(U) on Thursday ruled out the formation of the Third Front for the 2014 General Elections.
Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav announced that the Third Front will be formed after the 2014 polls.
Yadav`s statement came after he held hour-long talks with CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader KC Tyagi, and CPI national secretary Amarjeet Kaur.
"No Front is being set up. All of us have gathered here to forge a united platform to safeguard the country from the threats from communal forces," senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters after the meeting here.
The leaders met here to discuss the preparations for a national convention against communalism to be held here on October 30.
Yechury, however, said they have got positive responses from Biju Janata Dal supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on the convention, but "who will attend the convention will be known later".
Talks were also on with parties from Andhra Pradesh, but given the prevailing situation in the state, it was not clear whether any of them would be able to join, he said.
Asked why was the communal card projected always before the elections, he said, "It is the communal organisations which raise issues like Ram temple every time before elections."
"To heighten communal tension is politically and electorally beneficial for these parties. But this way, they endanger the secular democratic fabric and pose a real threat to the integrity of the country."
"This is not in the interests of the nation. If India goes, there will be no political party left. Therefore, it is essential that we join hands to fight this communal menace," the CPI(M) leader, flanked by Yadav and Tyagi, said.
To a question as to why they were not inviting Mamata Banerjee`s Trinamool Congress, Yechury said, "We take only those who are firm on fighting communalism."
"Mamata Banerjee was a Minister in the cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then she was with Manmohan Singh. We don`t know what her present position is," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
