Third front move gets fresh impetus

Patna, Nov 30: With Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav adopting a policy of forgive and forget towards Laloo Prasad Yadav, fresh m...

Patna, Nov 30: With Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav adopting a policy of forgive and forget towards Laloo Prasad Yadav, fresh moves for launching of the third front have been initiated and the national leaders of the smaller parties will meet in the third week of December to give it shape.

Mulyam turning hostile towards Laloo was the main impediment in the formation of the third front. The Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD sources, however, maintain that 8220;the misunderstanding between the two leaders has been sorted out and they have to revive the third front8221;.

Laloo has taken the lead in persuading Mulayam to drop his confrontationist attitude against him, ever since Mulayam announced in Patna that his party would be a serious contender for power in Bihar during the next Assembly elections. An unnerved Laloo used 8220;the services of their circle of common friends8221; to assuage his ill feeling and, finally, at the wedding of Mulayam8217;son, the deal was struck. The RJD leaders are now happy at the prospectand feel that with a unified Opposition, with Mulayam extending support to Laloo, the RJD will be in a position to check the rise of the BJP.

According to well-placed sources, the next meeting of the national leaders of the SP, RJD and other parties will work out the modalities of the launch of the third front. The sources maintain that formal invitations will be sent to all these leaders, but before that the CPIM8217;s general secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, will be trying to contact the leaders personally. The former UP chief minister, Kalyan Singh, who will float his own party on December 6, will also be extended an invitation.

The sources maintain that, with the Congress and BJP agreeing to join hands on major issues and the Congress even endorsing the economic policy of the BJP, parties like the RJD, Janata Dal S, SP and others have no way out but to come together and float the third front. However, the basic idea behind the move is to unite the backward caste votes. The sources reveal that theywould prefer to approach the regional parties and urge them to join the proposed front.

There is a feeling in RJD and SP circles that the BJP and the Congress are both trying to consolidate their position in the upper caste sections and a pre-1967 situation was fast emerging in the country, when these forces utterly neglected the aspirations of the backwards. However, they feel that the situation in 1999 is not akin to that in 1967 and the dependence on the upper caste votes would take away the sheen of the two parties. A senior RJD leader confided that the third force would mainly concentrate on the Hindi heartland to organise the backward castes.

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda agreeing to have relations with the RJD has simply boosted the chances of launching the front. At one stage, Laloo was opposed to Mulyam and Deve Gowda. But he has reconciled to the existing situation and is agreeable to enter into and understanding with the JD S as well as the Samajwadi Party.

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With the CPIM leadersstrongly behind the move, the RJD leaders are hopeful that this time the front will take concrete shape. Yet another factor which haunts them is the fear of marginalisation in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Just now the SP and Kalyan can make an impact in UP.

Any further delay will diminsh their potential. Both Mulayam and Kalyan intend to use the situation. Laloo is already on a sticky wicket. His popularity is on a decline. The formation of the front would provide him some fresh respectability.