Explaining exit from Third Front, NCP leader Tariq Anwar alleges 'secret deal' between BJP, SP

NEW DELHI: Nationalist Congress Party leader Tariq Anwar said NCP’s recent decision to pull out of the Samajwadi Party-anchored Third Front in Bihar was due to the realisation that Mulyam Singh Yadav and the SP were working to help the BJP win the state elections.

Speaking to ET, Anwar, whom Mulyam had announced as the hurriedly formed Third Front’s CM candidate in Bihar, alleged a “secret deal” between the BJP and SP.

“Certain deliberate activities of SP, the manner in which Mulayamji was insisting on the selection of candidates and allocation of seats and his speeches about an imminent change in Bihar, all have convinced NCP that his main attempt, along with Pappu Yadav, has been to help BJP win the elections,” he told ET from Katihar.

Explaining SP’s stance, Anwar said, “People say investigations, especially into the Yadav Singh case, have made Mulayamji come under some pressure.”