Dehradun: Speculation is rife that former
Chief Minister B C Khanduri may ditch the BJP to head a Third
Front in Uttarakhand assembly elections due early next year
after the leader met Uttarakhand Kranti Dal chief.
"I am still in BJP but what happens in future, no one
knows," Khanduri said when asked whether he sees any
possibility of the formation of Third Front.
Khanduri met UKD president Trivendra Singh Panwar this
week. When asked whether he held any talks related to the
formation of the front, the BJp leader said, "Such meetings
are routine. There was no desicive talk".
According to UKD sources, Panwar had requested
Khanduri to head the Third Front to take on both the ruling
BJP and Congress in the coming assembly elections which are
due in Febraury next year.
Last month, BJP President Nitin Gadkari had said that
the next assembly elections would be fought under the
collective leadership of Khanduri, Chief Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank and former Chief Minister B S Koshiyari in
his attempt to end political rumbling in the party. Since
then, Khanduri was keeping a low profile.
On the other hand, a BJP spokesman denied any rift in
the state BJP and said all the top leaders were united to take
on Congress in the next assembly elections.
"What you are hearing is a conspiracy hatched by
Congress to harm the morale of BJP," he said.
Meanwhile, Panwar described his meeting with Khanduri
as a "courtsey call".
"Such meetings are routine and don`t draw too much
inference. There is still a lot of time left for our future
strategy," Panwar said.
PTI
