During the forthcoming party congress at Coimbattore in Tamil Nadu on March 29, he said, top party leaders across the country will gather to discuss the possibility of floating a third front.

“We are working to form a third alternative, which will be led by the Left parties,” Bhattacharjee said at a public rally organised to celebrate the landslide victory of the Left Front in Tripura. CPM state secretary Biman Bose was also present at the rally.

In the wake of the party congress —CPM’s highest policy making forum — Bhattacharjee indicated that the party is gearing up to mobilise itself as a strong “anti-Congress political force”. “We were compelled to support the Congress to prevent the BJP from coming to power,” the Chief Minister said.

“But the Congress has not learnt its lesson from the past. It continues to commit the same mistakes. It failed to fulfill our expectations. The public distribution system (PDS) has collapsed. Prices are soaring, but the UPA Government is not bothered,” he said.

CPM sources said that party general secretary, Prakash Karat, has already talked to some political parties to form a third alternative. The delegates in the party convention will decide which parties could be probable partners of the Left in the third front. The party is going to take a resolution separately on the issue, the sources said.

“This policy based alternative to the Congress and the BJP, must be built, and the Left has to take the initiative for it. In the last three years, the CPM and the Left have succeeded in presenting some alternative policies to the ruling classes prescriptions. This must be carried forward so that forces can be rallied around a third alternative. While this is being worked out, the CPM will seek to have electoral adjustments and alliances wherever required,” said a senior leader quoting from the party's draft resolution.

“There is some confusion in the party on how to term the “alternative”. Will it be Third Front or third alternative or Left and democratic alliance? The party conference will resolve the whole issue,” said the leader.

Citing the Left Front victory, Bhattacharjee said the CPM had won without compromising with any extremist outfits.