Janata Dal (Secular) Secretary-General Kunwar Danish Ali has predicted that the people are yearning for a change in India and are looking to the third alternative at the center. After the election results on May 16, the exercise will get under way for the formalization of the Third Front, with a common name, common agenda and a common leader. Kunwar Danish Ali said that even in 1996, it was only after the General Election results that the United Front was formed, the Common Minimum Program (CMP) was drafted and H.D. Deve Gowda was chosen as the prime minister. Similar practice will be followed again. People are looking beyond the two formations of the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA, Kunwar Danish Ali predicted.
Excerpts from an Interview:
How do you rate the poll prospects of the Third Front?
The emergence of the Third Front is bound to affect both the ruling UPA and the opposition NDA. Allies are deserting the UPA and the NDA. The latest entry to the Third Front is the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Orissa. Now, the Third Front consists of 11 parties. The third rally at Tumkur on the outskirts of Bangalore has acted as a catalyst and more and more parties are getting attracted to it.
But the Third Front has not decided on the prime ministerial candidate?
The choice of name for the new front, the agenda and the choice of the leader will all be made by the constituent parties. It will not pose any problem. Even in 1996, it was only after the election results that the United Front was formed. Then, there was a search for leader, when finally the leaders zeroed in on H.D. Deve Gowda, making him the prime minister. Senior leaders of the United Front sat down to put together a Common Minimum Program (CMP). So, there is nothing new and similar process will again be followed, once the election results are declared on May 16.
Even in the run-up to the elections, the Third Front is unable to get its act together. In Kerala, already there is a clash between JD(S) leader M.P. Veerendra Kumar and the Left Front?
It is a fact that my party cadres in Kerala are very upset over the denial of the sitting seat. In seat sharing, problems do arise naturally. All I can do is to appeal to the party cadres in Kerala to rise to the occasion and understand that the need of the hour is a non-Congress and non-BJP third alternative at the national level. Toward this end, all sections should strive to strengthen the emergence of the Third Front.
BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has not yet agreed to any seat adjustments even with the Third Front?
On the night of March 10, I spoke to BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra, to ensure the participation of Mayawati in the Third Front. The next morning, I went to Bangalore and connected Gowda to Mayawati. On the personal invitation extended by Gowda, Mayawati agreed to be part of the Third Front and she even sent Mishra as her representative to the Third Front rally at Tumkur. Now it is clear that she is very much with the Third Front. Seat sharing may not have happened but after polls, she would be very much a part of the Third Front.
There is criticism that the Janata Dal(S) has shared power for 20 months each with the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka, before coming up with the non-Congress and non-BJP Third Front?
After the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2004, the JD(S) extended unconditional support to the Congress. But the Congress was out to break the JD(S). It was then that young MLAs led by H.D. Kumaraswamy decided to save the party on their own, without clearance from the JD(S) leadership. To save the party, the JD(S) MLAs decided to break away from the Congress and join hands with the BJP. It was I who announced the party decision to suspend the Karnataka chief minister and all the JD(S) MLAs. It was only after the young leaders convinced the party leadership of the dire circumstances under which such a move was taken that the JD(S) leadership finally agreed to revoke their suspension and readmit them in the party.
But has not the JD(S) brought the BJP to power for the first time in the south in Karnataka?
Then you must also give the credit to the JD(S) that we did not hand over power to the BJP. We recommended imposition of president’s rule in the state. But the center did not oblige, with the result that B.S. Yediyurappa was sworn in as the state chief minister.
