Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, a fine practitioner of the art of the possible, has proposed that the Third Front that many speak of can only be formed after the Lok Sabha results are in.
This is an approach that makes sense, but Mr Yadav was speaking in Kolkata and may have irked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee by voicing a view different from hers on her turf.
Ms Banerjee has been trying for some time to breathe life into the notion of a Federal Front. How many takers she will find is not yet clear but Mr Yadav’s observations clearly do not align with the notion of a pre-election concord of non-Congress and/or non-BJP parties, or some of them at any rate.
Evidently, with so much experience at his command, the Samajwadi chief prefers to do business with those that get elected, and not limit himself by earmarking allies in advance. In the final analysis, he is looking at those who might help elevate him to the position of Prime Minister.
It is interesting that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has also made the right diplomatic noises in respect of Ms Banerjee’s proposition, but has indicated that all his future options are open.
Mr Yadav has ventured to say that the non-Congress and the non-BJP bloc will be the largest in the next Parliament. This may prove false, but it is the only sutra an aspiring PM from the regional bloc can offer.