Mahanta to attend Left sponsored convention

The Left-sponsored convention — the first attempt by the regional forces to come together and share a stage in the recent times — is seen as a conscious attempt by the secular camp to project the 2014 election as a communalism versus secularism battle. The BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi have been trying hard to project 2014 as an anti-Congress election.

Left leaders have been asserting that the coming together of the parties does not mean a third front was in the making before elections,but their joining hands is significant as it dashes the BJP’s hopes of joining hands with some of them — the likes of Naveen Patnaik,Jayalalithaa and Mahanta — in the runup to the elections. Post elections,the scenario could be different,even Left leaders admit.

While Orissa Chief Minister Patnaik and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalalithaa will give the convention a miss,their respective parties will be represented by Baijayant Jay Panda and M Thambidurai. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will attend as also JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda.

Manpreet Singh Badal,who broke away from the Shiromani Akali Dal,will also attend the convention.