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‘3rd Front still relevant’
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NewsByte on 06 June, 2008 02:37:40
 
BY AMIT AGNIHOTRI
New Delhi
June 6: Reiterating that the third front is still relevant, United National
Progressive Alliance spokesman Amar Singh said that the UNPA will hold a meeting
with the Left in July to devise a joint strategy to fight inflation.
"The leaders of the Left parties, along with those of the UNPA constituents,
will meet in the first week on July. We will then devise a common strategy to
combat the issue of price rise," said UNPA spokesman and SP general secretary
Amar Singh.
Mr Singh said that the synergy between the UNPA and the Left is also important
for the Left parties. He said his closeness to the UPA could only be to keep
"communal" forces at bay. Of late, the SP has been in the news for becoming cosy
with the Congress.
The rumours got wind after Mr Singh attended a dinner hosted by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to mark four years of the UPA government recently.
Condemning the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products by the UPA
government, Mr Singh said it will hit the poor people hard.
"The decision will come as a windfall profit for certain private oil companies
but will widen the existing gap between the rich and the poor," he said.
Stating that the fuel price hike will certainly add to the already high levels
of inflation, Mr Singh said that the UNPA and the Left had earlier taken up the
issue and had even courted arrest to stress their point.
Refuting charges that the UNPA has no policy of its own and instead leans on
the Left for the same, Mr Singh said he can’t help if the two political groups
tend to think on the same lines on most of the issues.
Denying any political overtones in the meeting between Samajwadi Party chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Friday, he
clarified that it was a constitutional formality.
"Mulayam Singh met Mayawati in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition in
the UP Assembly to finalise the nominees for the state human rights commission,"
said Mr Singh.
He said that Mr Yadav had met Ms Mayawati almost after a year and got the
treatment for which the BSP chief is known in political circles.
Though speculation is rife in the national capital over the said meeting, Mr
Singh refused to comment on it.