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Buddha wants Third Front in power

PTI | ByPress Trust of India, Kolkata
May 12, 2004 07:54 PM IST

West Bengal CM said he would prefer a "Left-Secular" Third Front govt, failing which CPM would support Congress.

A day after veteran CPI(M) leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet voiced support for a Congress-led government at the Centre if the NDA fails to win a majority, party colleague and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said that priority would be given to the formation of a "Left-Secular" Third Front government, failing which his party would support a Congress-led government from outside.

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The party Politburo would meet in New Delhi on May 15 to discuss the post-poll scenario where a 'blueprint' would be prepared for formation of a "Left and Secular" Third Front government, he told reporters in Kolkata.

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"If it is found that it is not possible to form a left and secular government, then the CPI(M) will support Congress from outside if Congress forms the government," he said.

Earlier also, the Chief Minister had said in case the Third Front failed to materialise, "to keep BJP-led NDA out of power we will support a Congress-led government from outside despite our differences with them on economic policies."

Responding to a question, Bhattacharjee expressed optimism that Left Front would garner an increased number of seats than the 1999 polls when it bagged 28.

Interestingly, veteran CPI(M) leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet had yesterday favoured a Congress-led coalition in a bid to stop the NDA from coming back to power.

He had also said that a minority government could not survive with outside support from a bigger party saying, "such support does not work. In my long experience in politics, such support by a bigger party has not worked."

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