Mulayam Singh Yadav (L) with Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav

at New Delhi.

New front may give BJP hard time in RS

NEW DELHI: National politics on Thursday signalled a move from anti-Congressism to anti-BJPism with offshoots of erstwhile Janata Parivar saying that there may be a merger of multiple regional parties to forge a common platform.JD(U) boss Nitish Kumar told reporters that the splinter groups of Janata Parivar of the 1970s have now decided on unity. “This meeting decided on our unity. In future, we can move from unity to merger into one party,” he told reporters.The parties have decided on a common stance and agenda to take on the government in Parliament, identifying BJP’s alleged U-turn on black money, employment for youths and farm prices as matters of concern. The statement came after a meeting at the residence of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.Besides Yadav, the luncheon brainstorming was attended by RJD chief Lalu Prasad, H D Deve Gowda of JD(S), Dushyant Chautala of INLD, Kamal Morarka of SJP besides Nitish and his colleague Sharad Yadav.The development is significant for being another instance of regional outfits closing ranks to ward off the threat of Narendra Modi-propelled BJP. These mechanics, till now, used to be dictated by the shared paranoia over Congress which has been reduced to a sideshow since the 2014 elections.What adds to the ‘third front’ urgency is that BJP has set its sights on the big prize of Bihar that goes to polls in November 2015 while Uttar Pradesh will follow in March 2017.The first instance of such collaboration came from Bihar after the Lok Sabha polls when sworn enemies Lalu and Nitish came together to keep the buoyant BJP at bay when the state government appeared tottering following defections. Congress is part of that combination.Nitish said the attempt at forging a larger unity would include the Left bloc and other political parties though he added there was no discussion about Congress.The meeting decided to hold the Centre accountable on black money, unemployment and support price for crops, alleging that PM Modi has gone back on his poll promises. This raises the prospect of protests in the winter session of Parliament. Though the Janata outfits together lack the numbers to seriously challenge the ruling alliance that has over 320 MPs in Lok Sabha, they have the potential to jam the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks a majority and where Congress has a good strength.According to Nitish, the PM had mentioned a specific amount of black money and promised to bring it back in the election campaign but had now made a U-turn that there was no information on the quantum of illegal wealth stashed outside.She said the PM sold the youth the dream of “crores of jobs” annually while government appointments have been frozen for one year. He said BJP had also promised to provide minimum support price to farmers equal to “investment on crop plus 50%” but there was complete silence on it after the formation of the government.