Third front may take shape after polls: Bardhan

Bardhan,who in 2009 famously remarked that BSP chief Mayawati deserved to be prime minister more than L K Advani or Manmohan Singh,was however not willing to identify a frontrunner.

The question is not who can become or who cannot become. There is no dearth of candidates. It could be Nitish Kumar,Jayalalithaa or Mulayam. They have all been successful chief ministers. They have the experience of governing states for years behind them, he said.

While making it clear that he has no plans to withdraw support to the UPA,Mulayam on Friday asserted the next Prime Minister will be from the third front. Interestingly,he did not rule himself out of the race.

Bardhan claimed that neither the Congress nor the BJP would come to power,opening the possibility of a third front which he said should be forged on the basis of a programmatic understanding.