The loose Third Front has become a hunting ground for the BJP, which is looking for additional numbers in the likely event of a hung parliament.
The loose Third Front has become a hunting ground for the BJP, which is looking for additional numbers in the likely event of a hung parliament.
Top party leaders and strategists held several rounds of meetings at PM candidate LK Advani’s residence on Thursday. Reposing faith in the “anti-Congressism” of the regional parties in the Third Front, BJP leaders are keeping the channels of communication open.
Disagreeing with the exit polls, the BJP believes it is emerging the single-largest party and the NDA the “single, most credible, pre-poll alliance” that would act as a “magnet” for several parties, many of which cannot go with the Congress since it is their main rival in their states.
This factor, the BJP believes, would outweigh the plank of secularism the Congress hopes to use to garner support from parties outside its fold.
Treating CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s “looking at Congress to stop the rising tide of the BJP” as a clear sign that the Third Front had “withered away”, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “I never thought Mr Karat would throw in his towel so early, even before the results are out.”
The BJP is already putting its “negotiators” in place. Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who also met Advani, did not mince words while explaining the visit. “I am here to take part in the post-poll political process. What is there to hide?” he said.
Modi is here to reportedly work out an alliance with the AIADMK.
A BSP representative is also said to have met the BJP leadership and preliminary talks are on.
The BJP is also eyeing Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra, where the party feels Congress CM YSR Reddy may poach Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam with an eye on his future in the state. If the Left supports a Congress-led alliance, it would leave the TDP no choice but to support the NDA. Left’s support to the Congress would also push Mamata Banerjee towards the NDA.
The BJP is also banking on the BJD falling short of a majority in the Orissa assembly, so that the compulsion of seeking its support in the state would draw CM Naveen Patnaik back to the NDA. The BJD, the TDP and the AIADMK would make it easier for the NDA to come to power without the BSP’s support.
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