The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday did not rule out backing Third Front to stop BJP from coming to power, saying it may offer issue based support to a non-Congress "secular" dispensation. With the marathon Lok Sabha elections wrapping up tomorrow, senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said AAP will consider offering issue-based support to a Third Front government if such an initiative was launched based on election results which will be out on May 16.

"Yes, we may extend issue based support if there is a situation that demands our support to a Third Front government," Rai told PTI in Varanasi. The talk of possible cobbling together of "secular forces" to stop BJP from coming to power has gained momentum in the last couple of weeks with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and a number of other leaders exuding confidence of such a formation, expecting that Congress would not do well to form UPA-III.

Rai, considered close to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal,, however, said a decision on future role of the party will be taken after analysing the outcome of the election. "Our movement is for common people and support will be definitely issue-based. Final decision on future course of action will be taken after May 16 when results will be declared," he said.

AAP has fielded candidates in 422 Lok Sabha seats and Kejriwal had earlier claimed that his party will win at least 100 seats. Rai, however, refused to hazard a guess about number of seats AAP would bag, saying the party's struggle will go on even if it does not perform well.

The AAP had in a stunning victory in its electoral debut bagged 28 seats in Delhi Assembly elections in December last year and a number of senior party leaders said they will repeat the "surprise" in the Lok Sabha polls as well.

The party was hoping to perform well in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.