The first stirrings of a possible regrouping of a non-Congress, non-BJP Third Front was witnessed on the Lok Awaz platform today — which launched a two-day convention on the course of economic reforms. A non-political organisation, Lok Awaz hopes to bring together the political parties on economic issues, and today’s speakers included the TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, and Awaz’s patron and NDA convenor George Fernandes. While SP general secretary Amar Singh was conspicuous by his absence, tomorrow’s speakers will include party MP Mohan Singh and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee.Fernandes added fuel to the speculation of emergence of the Third Front when he singled out Left parties for unexpected praise. The Front, as Amar Singh had earlier pointed out, was impossible without the support of Left parties and the SP.‘‘I agree with the Left for taking a stand on the issue of hiring foreign consultants in the Planning Commission. I don’t see why we should have them when we have equally meritorious policy makers in the commission itself, and these are people who are hired by developing nations. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is determined to take the reforms path to its logical end, unchecked and unparalleled, and the Left should continue to take a firm stand against Montek’s charter,’’ said Fernandes.The former Defence minister also pointed out that questioning the reforms process was not new. During his tenure, he said he had written a formal letter to then PM A.B. Vajpayee, asking for a mid-term review and course correction. Naidu said there was no dispute on the need for reforms but areas such as poverty alleviation, agriculture, population growth, education and healthcare should be given special emphasis. ‘‘Course correction means working out what needs to be done to eliminate poverty and improve the standard of living in the country,’’ said Naidu.In response to queries of an emerging Third Front, Naidu said he had come only to attend the convention. On the issue of the BJP’s renewed pro-Hindutva stand, he added: ‘‘Our stand is the same, we are secular and as long as the NDA continues to stick to the common minimum programme, we will continue to give it outside support on issue basis.’’
