Asked if the proposed Third Front would extend support to the Congress if it formed a government at the Centre, he told reporters here that ``it is too premature to say anything on this. We have to sit and discuss the issue.''

The CPI and CPI (M) have already said that they will support a Congress-led ministry at the Centre in the event of collapse of Vajpayee government.

Karunanidhi said the Third Front would serve as an alternative to the Congress and BJP. Since the CPI and the CPI-M had not grown at the national level, compared to the Congress and BJP, regional parties like DMK, and TMC should join the Left parties in forming it.

But the Third Front should not include Congress as suggested by some leaders and the AIADMK should also be kept out of it, the Tamil Nadu chief minister said.

He said he had not receivedany invitation from the CPI-M leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet for the meeting to finalise the modalities on the formation of the Third Front. ``If the need arises, the meeting can be held here also,'' he said when asked whether he would host the meeting.

Asked to comment on remarks by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha that their parties had kept open option on AIADMK support to back a Congress-led government at the Centre, the DMK president said ``it is an inner party affair of both the parties. I having nothing to say on this.''

He said he did not think the country would face fresh general elections in near future and said there would be changes in the national political scenario after next month's assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram and Sushma Swaraj's becoming chief minister of Delhi is an indication of this.

He said the Vajpayee government was bogged down by instability even before the ministry was sworn in with the aiadmk dilly-dallyingover sending its letter of support for the government, to the president. After the ministry was sworn in, the coalition partners started pressuring the prime minister, he said.

``Instability is the hallmark of the Vajpayee Government, though the BJP front had won the elections on the stability plank.'' Instability is not good for the country ,he said.

On the PMK leader S Ramadoss' statement that his party would pull out from the Vajpayee ministry if Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy was shifted from his post, Karunanidhi said if a partner of the coalition had a right to demand that the minister should be removed from the petroleum ministry, another partner had the right to protest against the demand.