After two and half hours of confabulations among eight Opposition parties over the “need for preparing an alternate vision in the country”, their leaders emerged to take great pains in refuting that it was a Third Front, it was a political grouping minus the Congress and its huddle was at the behest of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
“It is being reported in the media that this meeting of Rashtra Manch was held by Sharad Pawar to unite anti-BJP political parties. This is totally incorrect. I want to clarify that this meeting took place at Pawar’s residence but he didn’t call this meeting,” NCP leader Majeed Memon told the media after the meeting on Tuesday.
Former BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha have founded the Rashtra Manch.
Memon further said the perception that there is going to be a big Opposition group excluding the Congress is wrong. “It is being said that Pawar is taking a big political step and the Congress has been boycotted. This is incorrect. There is no political exclusion. We have invited the leaders who subscribe to the ideology of Rashtra Manch in which leaders of all political parties could come. There is no political discrimination. I personally invited Congress members,” Memon stressed.
His statement came amid heightened speculation about a Third Front, minus the Congress and led by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, taking shape to take on the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Leaders from TMC, SP, AAP, RLD and the Left parties participated in the meeting under the aegis of Rashtra Manch. The meeting was chalked out jointly by Pawar and Yashwant Sinha along with election strategist Prashant Kishor to explore the possibility of a Third Front against the ruling BJP. Kishor, however, kept away from the meeting.
The Congress and the Shiv Sena were also invited but they refused to attend. The two along with the NCP share power in Maharahstra.
SP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari said, “The summary of today’s meeting is that there is a need for preparation of an alternate vision in the country that is strong to address issues related to the common man. Rashtra Manch has appointed Yashwant Sinha, who is the convenor, to set up a team to give a strong vision on various important issues. The next meeting will focus on including more people.”
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi refused to comment on the meeting saying today is not the time to discuss politics. “My intention is to bring focus on Covid,” he said while releasing the party’s white paper on Covid-19.
Among those who made it included National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary, AAP leader Sushil Gupta, Left leaders Binoy Viswam (CPI) and Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M), former Congress leader Sanjay Jha and former Janata Dal (United) leader Pavan Verma besides former Justice AP Shah, former Rajya Sabha members Javed Akhtar and KC Singh.
“It was not political meeting but interaction among like-minded people. Issues like COVID management, ‘attack’ on institutions, unemployment etc were discussed in the meeting,” Nilotpal Basu told the media.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of the TMC handing over a crushing defeat to the BJP in West Bengal in the recent spate of assembly polls and its supremo Mamata Banerjee calling for all opposition parties to unite.
While several assembly polls are expected next year, including in key states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, efforts to bring together regional forces and other non-BJP parties are mainly being seen as aimed at the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
On the sidelines of this meeting, NCP also held its national executive meeting and discussed the current national issues, the party’s future policies and its role in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The meeting was attended by Pawar and party leaders Supriya Sule, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare among others.