Third Front offers jobs, dole for poor

Returning to the centrestage of national politics, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda laid the foundation for the Third Front as an alternative to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at a mammoth rally here on Thursday.

The nine-party alliance seized economic meltdown as its key poll plank by promising a new economic policy with a thrust on creating jobs, waiver of farm loans and liberal doles for the poor.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat set the tone to push front ahead in the electoral battle by accusing the UPA government of total failure in reviving the economy. “Over 10 lakh jobs have been lost in the country due to global economic meltdown. Financial institutions are collapsing, and farmers are committing suicide as the loan waiver scheme has not benefited about 80% farmers. Rising prices of food items have made the lives of the poor working class miserable. The much touted 9% economic growth during the UPA regime has ensured that the rich become super rich and poor more impoverished,” he said.

Karat, expressing confidence that the front will sweep the Lok Sabha polls, said the NDA was a sinking ship and UPA allies were deserting the Congress.