Third front is history: Ravishankar Prasad

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister Ravishankar Prasad on Thursday said the “Third Front” was history and there was “no possibility of repeat of Deve Gowda period.”

He was talking to newsmen after courting arrest in Patna during Bharat bandh, which he claimed to be as spontaneous as JP movement.

 “The days of Deve Gowda government or Gujaral government are over. Whether one likes it or not, but it’s a fact that today we have entered the phase of a ‘bi-polar polity’ --one led by the Congress and the other by the BJP,” he said.

Prasad, however, ruled out the possibility of Nitish extending support to the fragile UPA. “The anti-Congress credentials of Nitish Kumar are well-known. He has already welcomed the step of Mamata Banerjee and slammed the UPA over the issue of FDI and diesel price hike. However, his statement on special category status to Bihar has been misconstrued. Why should someone (Nitish) back a regime (UPA) which reeks of corruption and arrogance and faces an imminent downfall,” the BJP chief spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, activists of ruling Janata Dal (United) and the BJP enforced bandh in the State on Wednesday. Movement of trains was badly hit as protesters laid siege to the railway tracks.

Vehicular movement was disrupted across Bihar as road blocks were put up by those protesting against diesel price hike and reduction in subsidised LPG cylinders. School and colleges remained closed, while traders downed their shutters in the first half out of fear of hooligans.