The contours of the new political realignment with the Left moving closer to the UNPA camp became clear on Thursday as the crucial outside supporters of the UPA government announced that they hold the same platform with the “Third Front” on all people’s issues.

“On people's issues, we are on the same platform. There is an effort to create an alternative to Congress and the BJP to raise people’s issues and it will be formed,” CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said after meeting Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh.

The Left and the UNPA would jointly hold rallies here on October 30 and in Vijayawada on November 24, the leaders said.

Asked whether the Left and the UNPA could formally come together, Mr Singh said “one cannot predict the result of joint struggles”.

To stand together
Mr Bardhan said the Left and the UNPA would coordinate their stand in Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear deal as both were opposed to the agreement.

While the Left insisted that the government should put the deal on hold, Mr Singh went a step ahead and asked the government to scrap the agreement with the US as it was a “big danger” to the country’s sovereignty.
“On the issue of the nuclear deal, the Left and the UNPA have the same opinion. We will fight together on this issue and will take it to the people,” Mr Singh said.

SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and TDP’s Yerran Naidu will attend the farmer’s rally to be held here later this month while Left leaders will participate in the rally organised by the UNPA in Vijayawada, Mr Bardhan said.
Mulayam Singh, who is also the UNPA Chairperson, also met CPM general secretary Prakash Karat here on Thursday.

Not a joke
Talking to reporters later, SP general secretary Amar Singh came down heavily on senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily for dubbing the Left parleys with the UNPA as a “desperate measure”.

“Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” Mr Singh said, adding it was not surprising to hear such comments from “power brokers and sycophants, and we don’t take it seriously”.

He said the SP and the Left have always been together on issues concerning the common man and there was nothing new in the parleys.

UNPA convener and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu also held meetings with the Left leaders on Wednesday to work out an agenda of collaboration going beyond the Indo-US nuclear deal and incorporating “people’s issues”.