Pledging allegiance to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the trinity of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan has clarified that the UPA does not mean the Congress party alone.
“We are all part and parcel of the UPA which constitutes all the parties working on a common minimum programme (CMP) and not the Congress alone,” Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad said addressing a joint press conference here today.
The three tallest leaders of the cow-belt today resolved to fight the coming Lok Sabha poll jointly and defeat the “communal, capitalist and opportunist” forces for the betterment of the poor, farmers, minorities and dalits.
“Our alliance is not for the LS poll alone, but would hold strong for the next assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also,” Samajwadi Party president Mulayam added.
However, they reiterated their alliance was not against the Congress, but for giving a joint fight to ensure UPA victory in the Hindi heartland.
“We have assembled here to show our unity in the cow-belt extending from Kishanganj in Bihar to Noida in UP,” Prasad added.
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“Manmohan Singh is the consensual prime ministerial candidate of all the UPA constituents,” Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) chief Paswan said.
Criticising the left parties for cozying up to Bahaujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the three leaders underlined they had nothing to do with the Third Front.
“Our alliance has already caused ripples in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp, whose several partners including AIADMK, BJD, National Conference, Mamata Banerjee and George Fernandes have already left,” Prasad reminded.
The three leaders will jointly address election rallies in the state as well as in Bihar and Mumbai in the days to come.