Ambala rally boosts INLD’s confidence

The rally also proved to be a gathering point for some, if not all, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), popularly known as the Third Front, leaders in the country.

Those who shared the stage included Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party, Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party, Brindavan Goswami of the Asom Gana Parishad and Om Prakash Chautala of the INLD.

Dr Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference had to return midway after getting stuck in the Ambala traffic jam.

Though invited, Jayalalitha of the AIADMK failed to turn up. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal also turned up at the venue in support of his ‘good old friend’ Om Prakash Chautala.

Sensing the possibility of an early parliamentary election in the country, political parties have started working out poll equations. The chances of mid-term poll may hasten the coming together of the Third Front, opposed to both the NDA and the UPA. The September 25 rally in Ambala, was one of the first such occasion for the UNPA leaders to test the mood of the electorate. And going by the overwhelming crowd, they certainly received a very encouraging response. The leaders on the stage tried to project themselves as a cohesive force and called for the ouster of the UPA Government at the Centre and the Congress Government in Haryana.

At the INLD rally, the UNPA leaders also tried to emphasise the need to work together to bring about a political change at the Centre. The leaders left no chance to run down the Congress and its failure to curb farmers’ suicides, ever growing inflation, rising unemployment, communal divide and the food scarcity in the country. By promising to help each other, the UNPA leaders tried to prove their unity in any future poll. The UNPA leaders indicated that wheat import, country’s nuclear deal with the US and the proposed Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project were likely to become the main issues in the forthcoming polls.

In the last Parliamentary elections in 2004, the INLD had been totally routed and had failed to win even a single seat in Haryana. A resurgent Congress then had swept the poll winning nine out of 10 seats and the BJP won the remaining one seat. But now, the INLD, with active support of the other UNPA partners, is hopeful of an improved performance this time, say party leaders.