Third Front has no future, says BJP leader MM Joshi

Varanasi: Ruling out the possibility of formation of a Third Front, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday said such a coalition has no future. "Opportunist coalition or manipulation of power cannot solve any of the problems existing in the country," Joshi said.

Joshi said, "Mulayam Singh has expressed the idea of formation of a Third Front but he did not mention who all will be in the front and what will be its programme." He alleged that lack of a uniform agenda of the UPA has affected the country as the common man has suffered, inflation has increased and the internal security and foreign policies have also suffered.

He also alleged that the government misused CBI. "On one hand the coalition suffered due to multiple pressures and on the other hand they misused CBI for running the government," he said. The policies of coalition should be transparent and there should be consensus among all partners of the alliance to run the programmes for minimum five years, Joshi said.

During the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee the coalition worked on a consensual programme, he said. Joshi said that there are two big national parties in the country hence polarisation around them is justified. But the condition is that the parties should have transparent policies.

In an apparent reference to JD(U) he said that the local aspirations should not be given importance over national interest. When asked about Mulayam Singh's recent appreciation of BJP leader LK Advani, Joshi expressed hope that Singh will also favour politics of principles as Advani did.

Commenting on Supreme Court's order on Sanjay Dutt in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Joshi said, "the Supreme Court's decision should be respected." Joshi said that not only CBI but institutions like CVC, CAG should also be free from government control, adding that the CBI should be removed from the purview of Delhi police act and a new law should be framed for it.