Parties feel need for third front to fight BJP: Sharad Pawar

NNCP leader Sharad Pawar has said leaders of several political parties have been talking about a ‘third front’ to take on the BJP and the Centre. Publicly disproving the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal, Pawar said Mamata Banerjee was being “targeted all out by the BJP and central agencies” and it warranted “all democratic parties to rally behind” her in the West Bengal assembly polls.

Speaking at a news conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, where he admitted former Congress parliamentarian PC Chacko into the Nationalist Congress Party, Pawar said, “we are not talking about any face,” when asked whether there was a move to make him the face of the front of regional parties. “There is a need for a third front in the country, but it has not been given shape yet. Many parties are feeling the need for it. We have been talking to different parties. Sitaram Yechury also stated about the need for it,” Pawar said in response to a question on the emerging political scene and whether the Congress was found lacking in countering the BJP challenge. ET had reported in its December 14 edition that many leaders of regional parties were exploring a front of their own to take on BJP.

“Chacko’s arrival will strengthen the NCP”, Pawar said while welcoming him to the party. Pawar said Chacko, a former AICC in-charge of Delhi, resigned from the Congress alleging lack of democracy and protesting against groups taking complete control of the Congress in Kerala. This also marks Chacko’s reunion with his former leader, with whom he worked during the Congress(S) days. Chacko would campaign against the Congress-led UDF in Kerala as NCP is part of the CPM-led ruling Left Democratic Front. Chacko expressed happiness to work under Pawar’s “able leadership” once again. Chacko was minister of industries in the LDF regime in ‘80s. He re-joined the Congress when Pawar merged the Congress(S) with the parent party in late 80s. Chacko could become a national general secretary of NCP or head its Kerala unit in the future.