Deve Gowda backs Mayawati as leader of Third Front

LUCKNOW: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H D Deve Gowda on Monday backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as a leader of the proposed Third Front which will become political alternative to BJP and Congress.

"I will stand by Mayawati if she becomes the leader of the Third Front. I have no reservations...and I also don't dream of becoming Prime Minister again", Deve Gowda told reporters when asked about the leadership of the Third Front.

"The Third Front is going to take shape. Whether you like it or not, it will become an alternative force to counter BJP and Congress", said Gowda, who was in the state capital to attend state party convention.

He said 11 parties had came together to vote against Indo-US nuclear deal in July and later it was decided that all parties should go across the country and "expose" the UPA government's policies due to which farmers were committing suicide and "misuse" of constitutional bodies including CBI.

A propaganda committee, having a member of each party, was subsequently constituted and another small committee was formed, which also met twice or thrice to finalise modalities of setting up the Front, he said.

"I, as a farmer, will cooperate in formation of the Third Front", he said.

Gowda said that after he met Mayawati at his residence in Delhi he was not in touch with Left and other leaders.

"I am concentrating on my home state Karnataka and the party is going to hold state conventions in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan where the party has its organisation", Gowda said.

Source : Times Of India