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Mulayam predicts third front's rise to power post 2014 poll

July 05, 2013 18:06 IST

Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday predicted the rise of the third front to power in the post 2014 Lok Sabha poll scenario. He was clearly of the view that there was neither any chance of re-emergence of the Congress nor the rise of Bhartiya Janata Party on the national political scene .

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Mulayam said, “The formation of a third front is always a post-poll development; and I am confident and even this time a third front will take shape soon after the Lok Sabha election.”

He asserted, “I am confident that both the BJP and the Congress have no chance of rising to power, therefore emergence of a third front was imminent.”

While emphasizing that he had always had held this view, he added, “I am sure all non-Congress and non-BJP parties will rise to the occasion soon after the election results are out and they will work together towards the formation of a third front; I will also pitch in.”

The Samajwadi Party president pointed out, “The left parties have also expressed the need for formation of a third front.”

Replying to questions on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra  Modi’s potential to lead the BJP to power, Mulayam shot back, “All the hype on Modi was a creation of a section of the media, where Modi was blown beyond all proportions.”

Citing the example of how Modi failed to make any impact in Karnataka, Mulayam said, “We have seen how miserably Modi failed at the recent Karnataka state assembly election. The BJP, which ruled in that state was reduced to a minority even as Modi was camping there for a long time.”

He felt, “Modi would not make any difference in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar,” while adding, “In fact, his divisive politics will never work in UP, where the people traditionally believed in cohesion and social harmony; so no matter how much effort Modi makes to vitiate the atmosphere, the people of the state were not going to respond to his kind of politics in UP.”

Referring to the Food Security Bill, he felt, “The Congress was trying to impress the poor only with an eye on the elections.”  He asked, “After all, the Monsoon Session of Parliament is due, so why not take it up then; why the haste in pushing it through?”

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow