Federal Front can never be a success, claims Cong

At a time when talk of formation of a Federal Front is gaining ground, Congress on Thursday suggested that the idea was a flop, saying history has shown that such groupings formed for the sake of grabbing power never last.

"While political parties can form any front including the Third Front, history tells us that it has never been a success. Same thing applies to a Federal Front.

"For the sake of power, if a Third Front or a Federal Front is formed, it cannot last long, it cannot run", party spokesman Rashid Alvi told reporters here, adding that only a front which takes shape on the basis of common ideology lasts long.

His remarks came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party Trinamool Congress recently walked out of the UPA, pushed for a front of regional parties.

"If the regional Chief Ministers can sit together for the future of the country, I will be very happy..... India should run from different parts of the country....we have already decided on Federal Front. I think states should be more powerful," she had said.

Mamata's Odisha counterpart and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik today described her proposal as too early. Patnaik is also a votary of a Federal Front.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had recently said that the Third Front will win the next Lok Sabha elections.

Time and again, the Congress as also the BJP have dismissed emergence of Third Front ahead of the 2014 general elections as a 'mirage'.

In fact, leaders of both the Congress and the BJP maintain that the possibility of formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP front to takeover power at the Centre is not only dim but also non-existent.