On June 22, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar met leaders of 8 political parties in which Congress was missing raising questions.
The meeting triggered rumors of a “third front”, besides the Congress and BJP. However, three days later, Sharad Pawar announced that Congress cannot be left out of an alternative front if it is formed. On Saturday, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut also dropped the idea of an Opposition alliance without Congress.
After NCP chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also backed the Congress party to lead the national alliance against BJP. He also praised Rahul Gandhi and said he has been at the forefront of the fight against BJP.
Tejashwi Yadav also said on Sunday that said any national coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance would be incomplete without Congress, and Congress is the ‘fulcrum’ of any alliance against BJP at a national level. He also said that Congress should only focus on the 200-odd seats in the Lok Sabha where it is in a direct fight with the ruling BJP.
In an interview with the news agency, Yadav, however, expressed that Congress should only focus on the 200-odd seats in the Lok Sabha where it is in a direct fight with the ruling BJP.
“On remaining seats, with an open heart and mind, it [Congress] should let regional parties be in the driving seat in their respective strongholds to root out the BJP,” he added.
Yadav’s support of the Congress is the latest amid speculations of the Opposition putting up a joint front against the saffron party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Replying to inquiries on the Lok Janshakti Party, Yadav reached out to Chirag Paswan, who is facing a rebellion from leaders of his own party. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said Chirag Paswan could pay a “tribute” to his late father Ram Vilas Paswan by uniting with the Opposition.
“Ram Vilas Paswan Ji was a socialist and a firm believer in the idea of social justice throughout his life,” Yadav said. “The real tribute to him would be carrying forward his values and legacy and that is possible only when Chirag ji joins this existential fight against [MS] Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts”. Yadav was indicating the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue MS Golwalkar’s book.
Tejashwi Yadav also said that his father Lalu Prasad Yadav had nominated Ram Vilas Paswan to the Rajya Sabha from RJD’s quota of seats when he lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and the Lok Janshakti Party did not have a single MLA in the Bihar Assembly.
“Has anybody done or sacrificed so much for any other leader or party in the country,” asked Yadav.
Yadav’s remarks came a day after Chirag Paswan indicated of a possible alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal. He even referred to Tejashwi Yadav as his “younger brother”. Earlier, Paswan had said he expected a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his “difficult time”.
The LJP fell into trouble earlier in June when five of its six Lok Sabha MPs rebelled against Paswan and told Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that they have chosen Pashupati Kumar Paras as the party’s leader in Parliament. Paras is Paswan’s uncle.
The move was effectively a coup against Paswan, who is the sixth LJP MP. Birla had accepted Paras as the floor leader of the LJP in the Lower House.
After this, the LJP team, led by Chirag Paswan, dismissed Paras and the four other MPs who had revolted against him. This came soon after the rebel leaders removed Paswan as the national president in an emergency meeting of the LJP national working committee.
After attempts by senior politicians to leave out Congress, realization struck that no party was strong enough to take on the BJP at this stage without the Congress party and Sharad Pawar said, “The Congress cannot be left out of any alternative front to take on the BJP” on Friday days after a meeting at his home in Delhi sparked wild rumors about Third Front moves for the 2024 elections.
Sharad Pawar said, ‘An alliance was not discussed in the (Rashtra Manch) meeting but if an alternative force is to be raised, it will be done only by taking Congress together. We need power like that and I had said this in that meeting.”