In a serious effort to unite the members of the erstwhile Janata Parivar in a viable national alternative to take on the BJP, veterans like Mulayam Singh Yadav, lalu Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Deve Gowda on Thursday discussed the need to come together under one umbrella.
While the immediate priority for them is to present a united front against the Government in the Winter Session of Parliament, the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led initiative has planted the seeds for the possible emergence of a new party comprising leaders born out of the JP movement and pro-Mandal backward class resurgence.
Interestingly, while JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, RJD supremo lalu Prasad, JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, INlD’s Dushyant Chautala and SJP’s Kamal Morarka attended the lunch hosted by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam, it was former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who briefed the media and other leaders took the backseat.
Nitish’s projection as the face of the “unity” drive, is significant since Bihar goes to polls next year. The State could witness a bitter battle between BJP and JD(U) since
Nitish had walked out of the NDA after projection of Narendra Modi as the BJP prime ministerial candidate.
Nitish told the media that the parties decided to unite to raise issues of public importance and speak in a common voice in Parliament. Thanking Mulayam for the “initiative,” he said the parties, which were part of the Janata Parivar, decided to work together on the principle of unity.
Responding to volley of questions on the possible ‘merger’ to further their electoral prospects, Kumar did not rule out such a possibility. “The answer to this lies in the future...We can move towards one party (Hum ek party ki taraf badh sakte hain),” he said.
Incidentally, in the past Mulayam always flirted with the idea of a Third Front with the left parties, but this time there was no mention of the Third Front, and the left parties were not among those invited to attend the meeting.
To a question why Congress, also an Opposition party, was not invited, Kumar said they did not discuss the Congress. Asked why the left was kept out of the deliberations, Kumar said political parties “who share our views on certain issues will be contacted. We are open to a dialogue.”
Responding to a poser, Kumar said TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s role in the new grouping was also discussed but no decision was taken. Incidentally, there was no representation from Ajit Singh’s RlD which was once a part of the larger Janata family.
Kumar said while achieving total unity among the parties was a long drawn process, another meeting will be held in the coming days to chalk out programmes based on issues flagged by the leaders.
Attacking the BJP, he said while it had promised to bring back “every penny” of black money stashed abroad during the lok Sabha election campaign, the ruling party has taken a “U-turn” on the issue.
“We were told every Indian will get Rs 15 lakh once black money is brought back...Today we don’t know the exact quantum of money stashed abroad,” he said.
Kumar said the leaders have also decided to raise the issue of Minimum Support Price for farmers. “BJP had claimed that besides the input cost, it will give an additional 50 per cent to farmers as MSP. But the increase in MSP has been very little...Another issue is unemployment.
They (BJP) said they would provide employment. But the fact is that there is a freeze in fresh appointments,” Kumar said. He said issues like land Act and the Insurance Bill would be raised in one voice in both Houses of Parliament.