The United National Progressive Alliance (or Third Front) was created as an alliance of ten different political parties on March 12, 2009, at a rally held in Dobbaspet, a small town 50 kilometres from Bengaluru. The advertisement put forth on this day read:

"The Third Front is being launched, against the pro-rich economic policies of the national parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, against the growth of communal and fascist forces and to remain determined and committed to the cause of the pro-farmer, pro-poor, pro-worker, pro-Other Backward Classes, pro-Dalit, pro-women, pro-minorities and pro-youth."

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Telangana Rashtra Samithi (joined NDA)
Samajwadi Party (supports UPA without being in the government)
Asom Gana Parishad (joined NDA)
Indian National Lok Dal (joined NDA)
Haryana Janhit Congress (joined NDA)

Prior to 2008, the Third Front existed as the United National Progressive Alliance for a brief period of time. It was then a grouping of eight political parties in India who were neither in United Progressive Alliance nor in National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or in Indian left. The alliance had then approached Abdul Kalam to contest the Indian presidential election. Rasheed Masood was their Vice-Presidential candidate.

Mulayam Singh Yadav (born 22 November 1939) is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. He was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times from 1989 to 1991, 1993 to 1995, and 2003 to 2007. He also served as Minister of Defense from June 1996 to March 1998 in the United Front government.

Mulayam Singh Yadav was born to Moorti Devi and Sughar Singh on 22 November 1939 in the village Saifai of Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh in India. His father wanted the son to be a wrestler and his political guru, Natthu Singh, spotted him in a wrestling match at Mainpuri. Impressed by his muscle power Mulayam was rewarded the political pocket of Jaswantnagar by Singh.

Yadav first became a state minister in 1977, Later in 1980, he became the president of the Lok Dal (People's Party) in Uttar Pradesh which became a part of the Janata Dal (People's Party) afterward. In 1982, he was elected leader of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh legislative council. He holds a M.A. from Agra University and B.T.^{[disambiguation needed ]} from Jain Inter College, Karhal (Mainpuri).

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર મોદી; born 17 September 1950) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben. He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood also having interest in politics since adolescence. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. He was elected again for a third term on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".

Naveen Patnaik (Oriya: ନବୀନ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ) (born October 16, 1946) is an Indian politician and Chief Minister of Orissa, India, and the chief of Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party in Orissa. He is also a writer and has published three books.

Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa to Biju Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Orissa, and Gyan Patnaik. At the age of 7, he was sent to Welham Boys' School, Dehradun, but later on shifted to the Doon School, where he received his Senior Cambridge Certificate at the age of 17. After that he attended Kirori Mal College,Delhi University, and he qualified for Bachelor of Arts degree.

He is a life-long bachelor. His elder brother Prem Patnaik is a Delhi-based businessman, while his sister Gita Mehta is an author and is the wife of Sonny Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of Alfred A. Knopf, New York. He is an ardent devotee of Maa Tara Tarini and often visits the abode of the mother goddesses, the breast shrine of Adi Shakti near Berhampur, Ganjam district.

Patnaik is a writer and had for most part of his youth been away from both politics and Orissa, but after his father Biju Patnaik's demise, he entered politics in 1997 and a year later founded the Biju Janata Dal named after Biju patnaik which won the state election with the BJP as its alliance and formed the government in which Patnaik became Chief Minister. His mild mannerism, stand against corruption and "pro-poor policies" have resulted in the development of a huge support base in Orissa, which has voted him to power in the last three consecutive terms. Like his father he had managed to control the greedy bureaucracy and have transformed it to a machine for the development of the state.