Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS): Ridiculing the meeting of 14 parties in Delhi to give formal shape to a "third force", BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain Wednesday said it was only a gathering of outfits who would finish third in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"The third front, what is this? Those in the third position in their areas of influence, they are coming together to form the third front," Shahnawaz Hussain said at a party rally here.

Hussain said while the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) would finish after the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal in the coming polls, the same fate awaits the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar.

Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha leaders of 11 non-BJP and non-Congress parties, as also leading figures of three other parties which do not have representation in either House of parliament met in Delhi during the day.

Seeing a Congress hand in the meeting of the 14 parties, Hussain said: "The Congress knows it cannot fight the BJP on its own strength. So, it is bringing its foot soldiers to the fore."