Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced to contest the Bihar Assembly polls as part of the third front comprising of Samajwadi Janata Dal-Democratic, Sharad Pawar led NCP and National People’s Party (NPP) led by the former lok Sabha speaker PA Sangama.
Samajwadi Party claimed that the third front would present a third alternative to the voters after NDA and the Grand Alliance comprising of the RJD-JD (U) and the Congress. Claiming that it was humiliated the SP earlier this month had announced to quit the secular anti BJP grand alliance.
“We are confident of emerging as a potent political force in Bihar. The SP will contest Bihar Assembly polls with SJD-D led by former Union Minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, NCP and NPP headed by former lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma as Third Front alternative in Bihar,” SP National General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said at a joint press conference with leaders of these parties.
The SP leader said the coordination committee of Third Front will meet in Patna on Friday and the list of the candidates for the seats going to polls in the first phase of elections will be announced on Saturday. The process of filing of nomination papers has already begun. Forty-nine Assembly seats will go to polls in the first phase on October 12 and the last date for filing of nominations for first phase is September 23.
Former Union minister and the Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raghunath Jha announced to formally join the SP here on Friday. ``I was left with no option but to resign from the RJD as there was no respect for the senior leaders. I thank Mulayam Singh Yadav for accepting me in his party fold,” he said. Munna Singh, the JD (MlC) from Aurangabad also joined the SP and is likely to contest the Bihar assembly polls on SP ticket.
The SP general secretary parried the question when asked about the chief ministerial candidate of the third front. ``The elected MlAs will decide their leader after the assembly polls’’, said Ram Gopal Yadav.
About parting ways with the secular grand alliance the SP leader justified the move. `` I knew it from the day one that the merger of the six parties of the Janata parivar to form one party would never survive and that exactly happened sooner then expected. We would have lost the name of our party and the election symbol had we decided to remain with the merged entity’’, said the SP leader.
Asked about the perception and the charge by the rivals of the SP that it quit the grand alliance to help the BJP, the SP leader dismissed the charge saying `` it’s a common practice in politics to level such allegations’’.