Admittedly, it's only the vision that has died. Much will be heard in the coming days and months of the Third Front, it may even enjoy its last hurrah by installing its own prime minister. But it will now be a euphemism not for regional interests and realities, but for opportunism. As the 12th Lok Sabha heads for a phase of one-member majorities, it will offer a peaceful resting place for parties flitting to and fro, an opportunity to survey the relative merits of the carrots being offered while speaking piously of the need to strengthen the Third Front. Om Prakash Chautala's recent butter-won't-melt-in-my-mouth protestations of equidistance and commitment to the Third Front before gently tilting to the BJP side offer an idea of things to come. And the gatekeepers of the Front have amply demonstrated that they guard no Lakshman Rekha, parties are welcome to come and go as they please. Examples abound: Jayalalitha, Laloo Prasad Yadav,Mulayam Singh Yadav....

This ideological equivalent of the Tower of Babel is obviously not a very comforting idea for the two national parties, the BJP and the Congress. Shifting alliances and mercurial powerbrokers do not make for secure footholds. But, as the Congress found to its dismay after its resolve at Pachmarhi to eschew alliances, it is a reality they would do well to come to grips with. As the general elections of 1998 and the assembly elections thereafter indicated, the electorate cannot be fooled by a convenient partitioning of national and regional issues. Former constituents of the Third Front like the TDP, the DMK and the National Conference as well as triumphant returnees like the Samajwadi Party and the RJD enjoy significant popular support in their respective states. True federalism demands that the national parties, who are no mean players at the regional level, establish a meaningful, long-term rapport with state-level groupings -- like the Akali-BJP tie-up in Punjab. Only then will thenation experience political stability and only then will the worthy sentiments behind the Third Front find resonance.