The call for a ‘third front’ was raised at the ‘Sadhbhavna Samman Rally’ organised by INLD in Karnal on Sunday. The gathering saw leaders like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, SP’s Shivpal Yadav who claimed that people were looking for an alternative to Congress and BJP and hence ‘third front’ of INLD, JD(U), and SP was needed.
Launching an attack on BJP Nitish said that farmers across country were suffering under the BJP government and mentioned the Swaminathan report and the government’s failure to implement it. Nitish added, “I will appeal to people of Haryana that communal elements should not be allowed to disturb the atmosphere of peace in the state. During the elections, all of us came here to campaign. But people were hoping for achhe din and did not listen to us.”
Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said: “During Lok Sabha election, Narendra Modi made several election promises. None of these were fulfilled. In UP, where Samajwadi Party has its government with Akhilesh Yadav as the CM, we have fulfilled our promises.”
INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala targeted the Congress and the state’s BJP government over the issue of Jat agitation while saying, “The Congress and BJP together tried to spoil the social ties in the state and hatched a conspiracy in February during the agitation for Jat reservation. From February 19 onwards, not only property worth crores was destroyed, but 31 youths lost their lives.” He also added, “People voted for the BJP after being fed up from Congress. They are now even more fed up of the BJP. But there is a problem in front of the people that there is no alternate leadership available to them. Walking on the path and policies shown by Chaudhary Devi Lal, Lohiaji and Chaudhary Charan Singh we should stop these forces. There is a need of people like all of you (Nitish and Shivpal).”
Leaders from Shiromani Akali Dal were not present even though Abhay Chautala had extended invitations to the Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.
