Virtually shooting down the the viabilility of a Third Front even before giving it time to take shape, the Samajwadi Party said while it would want to align with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), its traditional loyalties were with the Left parties.
Holding its two-day national executive in Kolkata, the bastion of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), SP leader Mohan Singh virtually rejected a SP-Trinmool alliance.
“Trinamool is a prominent regional party. When we speak to other parties, we will be under compulsion to also speak with Trinamool. But the problem is that SP has a traditional relationship with the Left. During tough times, we were supported by leaders like Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu,” Singh said.
Singh’s formulation is likely to get a strong response from the TMC, which is already feeling betrayed by the SP following the fiasco over the election of the President of India in which the SP choose back the Congress candidate – Pranab Mukherjee – instead of the Trinamool Congress’s candidate after having promised its support.
For many years, the SP had an alliance with the Left parties. In between, for tactical reasons, the alliance broke down when the SP opted to tie up with Trinamool. Now, it appears the Left-SP relationship is on again.
This political move would appear to isolate the Trinamool Congress. A third front that has the Left parties in it would automatically rule out Trinamool.
The SP’s position is significant in the light of an uncertain outcome of the 2014 general election. If the SP sticks to this position even after the election, it could pave the way for further political fragmentation.
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In Kolkata on Wednesday, as he moved the draft political resolution, Mohan Singh suggested all regional parties opposed to the Congress and the BJP should come together.
“We urge all regional parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress to forge the new front,” he said. Singh was asked why his party so often came to the rescue of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Singh said the SP was guided by two considerations: A poor country like India cannot afford repeated elections; and there was need to keep communal forces like BJP out of power.
Singh said regional parties had a strong presence in certain pockets, but had been unable, until now, to emerge as a strong force at the Centre.
“Before the 2014 (Lok Sabha) elections, we hope the regional parties will unite and raise such a campaign pitch that both the Congress and the BJP will be blown away,” he said.