Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hosted leaders of several opposition parties at a lunch meeting.
New Delhi:
From a lunch meeting at Mulayam Singh Yadav's Delhi residence today, emerged not talk of a third front, but the hint that the "Janata parivar" could come together to form a party in the future.
Nitish Kumar, Janata Dal United leader and former Bihar chief minister, said after the meeting of regional opposition parties, "This unity among us can even turn into the forming of one single party."
For now, he said, the parties that met at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh's home had planned to operate as a group in Parliament, which meets for its winter session next month. The leaders who met today - including Lalu Prasad, also of Bihar - have common roots in the erstwhile Janata Party, but the group would attempt to involve other parties on issues in Parliament, Mr Kumar said.
What makes today's meeting different from several other attempts that Mulayam Singh has made to stitch together a Third Front of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, is the absence of the Left.
It is seen as an effort by smaller parties to create a pressure or influence group to remain politically relevant after the national elections, which saw most of them fare poorly as the BJP and its partners seized a sizeable majority in the Lok Sabha.
Many of these parties had played important roles in propping up minority governments led by the BJP and the Congress for a number of years. But this year, even Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party rules the crucial Uttar Pradesh, has won just five seats in the Lok Sabha. Nitish Kumar's JD(U), the ruling party in Bihar, has only two.
Together the parties that met today have 15 Lok Sabha seats. But in the Rajya Sabha, they have 25, not insignificant given that the ruling BJP-led alliance is in a minority and will be scrounging for support to push important legislation.
Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) is said to have been instrumental in arranging this first meeting. In by-elections held in Bihar recently, his party managed to keep an aggressive BJP in check by pooling resources with Lalu Prasad, a rival for decades, and the Congress.
Nitish Kumar, Janata Dal United leader and former Bihar chief minister, said after the meeting of regional opposition parties, "This unity among us can even turn into the forming of one single party."
For now, he said, the parties that met at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh's home had planned to operate as a group in Parliament, which meets for its winter session next month. The leaders who met today - including Lalu Prasad, also of Bihar - have common roots in the erstwhile Janata Party, but the group would attempt to involve other parties on issues in Parliament, Mr Kumar said.
What makes today's meeting different from several other attempts that Mulayam Singh has made to stitch together a Third Front of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, is the absence of the Left.
It is seen as an effort by smaller parties to create a pressure or influence group to remain politically relevant after the national elections, which saw most of them fare poorly as the BJP and its partners seized a sizeable majority in the Lok Sabha.
Many of these parties had played important roles in propping up minority governments led by the BJP and the Congress for a number of years. But this year, even Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party rules the crucial Uttar Pradesh, has won just five seats in the Lok Sabha. Nitish Kumar's JD(U), the ruling party in Bihar, has only two.
Together the parties that met today have 15 Lok Sabha seats. But in the Rajya Sabha, they have 25, not insignificant given that the ruling BJP-led alliance is in a minority and will be scrounging for support to push important legislation.
Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) is said to have been instrumental in arranging this first meeting. In by-elections held in Bihar recently, his party managed to keep an aggressive BJP in check by pooling resources with Lalu Prasad, a rival for decades, and the Congress.
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