New Delhi: The mauling Congress and BJP
suffered in the Assembly polls has triggered the talk of
forming a Third Front in the country.
The talk of the Third Front was given currency after
SAD's Prakash Singh Badal invited Mamata Bannerjee,
Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik and other non-Congress leaders
for his swearing-in ceremony on March 14.
Reacting on ally Trinamool Congress's decision to attend
Badal's swearing-in, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said,
"Social interactions with strangers by those in partnerships
is permissible, but obviously if things go beyond the normal
boundaries of social courtesy, it would become immoral."
To a query on possibility of emergence of a Third Front
and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reported suggestion
that the NDA should be expanded, BJP leader SS Ahluwalia
said, "If there is any such suggestion, we will discuss it
there (NDA meeeting scheduled this evening)."
JDU Chief Sharad Yadav said there were two coalitions--
NDA and the UPA--in the country. "When out of three, two come
together, the real game will begin. It is too early to
comment."
Union Minister Harish Rawat rubbished suggestions about
the possibility of re-emergence of a Third Front.
"There is no such possibility of re-emergence of Third
Front. Mamataji is an important leader of the UPA coalition
and is part of it. The government will remain for full-term of
five years," he said.
Rawat said the different views on issues among allies
doesn't mean that there is any difference in the government.
CPI leader D Raja said it was "too early" and "premature"
to read into the outcomes of the Assembly polls.
"There is a political reality in the country that
regional parties have come out of the state. We have to see
how regional parties while articulating the aspirations of the
people of that region are fulfill national responsibilities,"
he said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 11, 2012, 18:23