Attempts have again started to forge a third political front in Uttarakhand to give challenge to the long-continuing hegemony of BJP and Congress, the two parties which come to power by turns by relegating all other parties  on the margins. A meeting was held in Rishikesh on Sunday, attended by many important leaders who, at present, are not in any of the two mainstream parties.

The meeting has stoked speculations in the State’s political circles that a third front is about to take shape in Uttarakhand to throw an effective challenge to the stranglehold of the two parties on the Governance of the Himalayan State. The leaders who attended the meeting included the former Minister Dinesh Dhanai, former MlA Om Gopal Rawat, Aryendra Sharma and Kavindra Ishtwal. It is learnt that another meeting of the group would soon be held in Dehradun where broad outlines of the proposed front would be firmed up. Quizzed over the meeting, former MlA Om Gopal Rawat said that the meeting was apolitical in nature. “We just discussed plans to form a social organisation to press forward the problems of the people of the state,” he said. 

Notably, all such attempts made in the past to form a third alternative in the State have failed miserably to dent into the polarized politics and also to catch the imagination of the people. Former Member of Parliament ( MP) and cabinet Minister lt General T P S Rawat had formed a ‘ Raksha Morcha’ in 2011. He had invited leaders unhappy with the Congress and the BJP to join it to fight the two parties. But the Morcha had failed to even carve a foothold for itself in the bipolar politics of the State.

Commenting on the significance of the meeting, a veteran journalist Sudhir Panchbhaya said that some leaders who have remained sidelined from politics had met in Rishikesh.  He said that such ragtag front to be stitched by some leaders who have no groundswell of support at the grassroots is bound to end in smoke. “The objective which has made them to meet is to stay relevant in the changing matrix of the state’s politics,” he opined.   

Asked for comment on the possibility of a third front emerging in the State less than a year before the crucial 2019 general election, the State BJP spokesperson Virendra Bisht said that it was a congregation of  the leaders the people had rejected comprehensively. “Third front is a pipedream in the State’s polarised politics. Besides, ours being a cadre-based party, we do not bother about such front,” he added.