Launching the Third Force, the Left and major regional parties today joined hands to take on the Congress and the BJP in the upcoming general elections, saying both of them failed to address people's grievances.

Addressing a massive rally near Bengaluru [Images], leaders of these parties announced that they had come together to provide a "new alternative" to voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"This is a historic get-together of all democratic, secular and Left parties in the country to declare that we are all coming together to constitute a third force in this country," CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat [Images] said.

He said the third force stood for the interests of the vast masses for the firm defence of secularism against communal forces.

The platform, he said, would fight for social justice for the oppressed sections.

Joined by CPI leader A B Bardhan, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu [Images] and former prime minister and Janata Dal (S) chief H D Deve  Gowda among others, Karat said, "Today we have come together because the country needs a new alternative."