The 13-party Ittehad Front formed on December 27 with the intention of preventing multiple divisions of Muslims and OBC votes in Uttar Pradesh has cracked up.
The front has severed its ties with the Peace Party — the biggest constituent of the Ittehad Front — and has blamed the Peace Party leaders for doing so.
“It is Peace Party president Dr Ayub who has broken the alliance by giving tickets to tainted candidates and charging money for the same,” Maulana Salman Nadwi, the architect of the front, told reporters.
The Ittehad Front shot into limelight because of the presence of Maulana Salman Nadwi, who is the member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and also a faculty member at the Islamic seminary Nadwatul Ulama.
The maulana said that the front constituents had decided that tainted candidates would be kept out but the Peace Party has flouted this norm. “Besides, we are getting reports that money is being taken in return for tickets which is unacceptable,” he said.
The front members also claim to be upset with the Peace Party for unilaterally striking alliances with the Apna Dal and the Bundelkhand Congress and say that this was done without their knowledge or permission.
Strangely, Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel was very much present on the dais when the Ittehad Front was announced and the name of the Bundelkhand Congress was also take repeatedly by the speakers. None of the members, at that time, expressed any displeasure and are now objecting to the presence of these two parties.
The Ittehad Front initially included the Peace Party, Bhartiya Samaj Party, Quami Ekta Dal, Apna Dal, Ittehad-e-Millet Council, Bundelkhand Congress, Gondwana Ganatantra Party, Indian National League, Bhartiya Yuna Kalyan Party, Bhartiya Janseva Party, National Loktantrik Party and Rashtriya Parivartan Morcha.
Interestingly, this is the third front with the Peace Party that has cracked up within the past one year. In March last, the Lok Kranti Morcha was formed with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Peace Party as the major constituents in the six-party morcha. The front collapsed even before a single meeting of the constituents could take pace.
Then the Peace Party announced a three member front with the Apna Dal and Bundelkhand Congress in December which was then expanded to become the Ittehad front.
All three have apparently wilted away before the elections. A Peace Party leader said that his party would now contest maximum seats on its own but refused to comment on the fate of the Ittehad front.