It was interesting to note that the Left parties were opposing the very economic policies elsewhere particularly at the Centre which their own Chief Minister was keen to adopt and follow.

In their hasty pursuit of power or rather mutual antipathy towards the Congress in general and Prime Minister in particular, the Third Front was cobbled up just few weeks before the announcement.  One is reminded of numerous statements of CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat who while emphasizing the need for a Third Front always reminded that it can only come into existence through common struggle and common programme.

It is certain that any non-Congress, non-BJP Third Front would need the support of either the Congress or the BJP to reach the magical figure of 272 in the Lok Sabha. By no stretch of imagination, the non-Congress and non-BJP parties can win 272 seats on their own. Then, would it be possible for the Left to take parties like the Akali Dal, Shiv Sena on board and if not then how such a government would last a full term of five years.

While it is true that neither the Congress nor the BJP has given any indication of the strategy that would be followed if either of them leads the next government but one thing is certain that their regime would be investment friendly and open to new technologies.

Being the leading party in any coalition, either of these two national parties would have their way on economic issues. A UPA or an NDA government would have lesser number of contradictions than a Third Front government.

These contradictions exist essentially because of an out of tune and out of sync with time ideology and lack of understanding of the changing aspirations of people at large. Over and above, there is another problem with which majority of the parties and their leaders suffer from. Their understanding of the role of opposition is totally outdated.

The political players continue to believe that they have to oppose everything and every policy of the ruling combines. In that process, they come to oppose for opposition sake thus creating a big gap in what they preach and in what they practice when they come to power.

Every political leader believes in wooing the electorate by offering freebies and promises but no one is ready to tell the truth fearing rejection by the voters. All tax proposals are opposed by the opposition forgetting that what recourse they would have if they come to power.

We have all seen that irresponsibility characterizes the present day political leader and their parties. When in opposition, they would criticize everything that a ruling party is doing and would merrily indulge in competitive outbidding their rivals.

Unfortunately, even the media is not taking the parties and their leaders to task for running away from their responsibility. Political parties do talk of the development, promise the electorate clean drinking water, roads, power, educational and health facilities etc but none rather none tells as where they would get resources from for turning their promises into reality.