The proposed new front under the aegis of the two Left parties, CPI and CPM, would include ATDP of N Harikrishna, BSP, Janata Dal and a host of smaller organisations fighting for the rights of minorities, Dalits and backward classes.

Ever since the TDP decided to back the BJP-led government at the Centre last year, the Left parties have been vigorously making attempts to form an alternative front in the state. They have announced a 25-point programme as the basis for the formation of such front.

Though both the TDP and Congress tried hard to win them over, the Left parties spurned such moves. While the TDP stated that the Left was still its ally, Pradesh Congress Committee president YS Rajasekhar Reddy hinted at a poll alliance between Congress and the twoLeft parties.

However, the Left parties turned down both the offers and made it clear that they would like to take on both the parties which pursued anti-people polices over the years. The joint rally of CPI and CPM at Vijayawada on April 17 called upon the people to reject both TDP and Congress in the polls.

Disappointed over the response, the TDP dropped its plans to woo the Left, but the Congress is still hopeful of building bridges with it, on the ruse of keeping communal forces at bay. The Congress expects cooperation from the CPI and CPM on similar lines that it received at the national level recently.

Congress Working Committee member Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy last week said that he had "no objection" for a tie-up with the Left parties, if they were ready for such an understanding.

"It is impossible, as we want to defeat both the TDP and Congress in the polls. We may have backed the Congress in our efforts to dislodge the BJP-led government at the Centre. But, that does not mean that we canenter into an alliance with them," CPM state secretary BV Raghavulu told this paper.

Referring to the prospects of formation of a third front, he said that things would crystallise by the middle of May. He made it clear that there was total understanding between the CPM and CPI on the question of entering into an alliance with other parties under a new front.

Raghavulu said that though the Left would be more happy to welcome allies who are ready to back the 25-point programme it was willing to make amends with those who agree to implement at least four or five basic points mentioned in the programme.

They include a fight against communal forces, fight for federal structure, fight against the conditions imposed by the World Bank, removal of uneven development among different regions, implementation of land reforms and fight for social justice.