Sharad Pawar said talks are on with different parties for a third front (File)
New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that a third front is needed in the country and stated that he is in talks with different parties for the same.
"There is a need for a third front in the country but it has not been given a shape yet. We have been talking to different parties. Sitaram Yechury has also stated the need for it today," Sharad Pawar said.
He further stated that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed the Left's happiness at former Congress leader PC Chacko joining the NCP.
"Kerala Chief Minister called me and told me that the Left is happy with PC Chacko joining the NCP," said Sharad Pawar.
PC Chacko, on Tuesday, met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and joined the party.
The NCP chief asserted that there were no problems in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which comprises the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, further assuring that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was working properly.
"There are no problems in Maha Vikas Aghadi. The Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray is working properly," said Mr Pawar.
After joining the NCP, PC Chacko expressed the need for unity in the Opposition to emerge as an alternative to the BJP and said that the initiative for the same was absent in the Congress.
"Today, the need is the unity of the opposition. A united opposition should emerge as an alternative to the BJP. I don't see that initiative in the party which I was a member of earlier," said Mr Chacko.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)