Upset RSP, Forward Bloc weren't present at Third Front rally

New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) Upset over the way the Third Front launch was planned, leaders of two Left outfits - the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc - did not show up for the massive rally in Tumkur near Bangalore, party members revealed Friday.

While the RSP acknowledged its displeasure over the way the new formation was launched, the Forward Bloc cited lack of proper communication from the organisers as the reason for keeping away from Thursday's meeting of non-Bharatiya Janata Party and non-Congress parties.

'It was a conscious, deliberate decision not to attend the rally. Because we are not satisfied over the way it was launched. There was no prior consultation or discussion among the parties (before the launch),' RSP general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan said here Friday.

'The Third Front should be formed on the basis of certain policies and programmes. And the Left parties should have an upper hand in the new formation,' Chandrachoodan told IANS.

MP and Forward Bloc leader Barun Mukherjee said he did not turn up for the rally due to 'some sort of miscommunication'.

'Our party leader Debabrata Biswas is in China. I was supposed to attend the rally. I did not attend due to a miscommunication,' Mukherjee told IANS by telephone from Kolkata.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc constitute the Left bloc.

CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan attended the rally, organised by Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.