The Rashtriya Lok Dal and Peace Party have joined hands with half-a-dozen other small parties to form a new political front in Uttar Pradesh.
Announcing that here on Wednesday, RLD president Choudhury Ajit Singh and Peace Party president Dr Ayub said that the new front will provide a viable political
alternative to the people of the state, an alternative that will stress on good governance. The two leaders said that the new name of the front and other modalities will be worked out within a week. The other parties in the new front are Bhartiya Samaj Party, Indian Justice Party, Janwadi Party, Bhartiya Lokhit Party, Ati Pichhda Mahasangh and Uday Manch.
Significantly, the Bhartiya Samaj Party, Janwadi Party and Indian Justice Party have been part of other political formations set up earlier, including the Jan Morcha, floated by late V.P. Singh in 2005.
Replying to a question, Dr Ayub said that former SP leader Amar Singh was not yet a part of the new formation. “Let him first form a political party and then we will see,” Dr Ayub said.
It may be recalled that Mr Singh’s Lok Manch had joined hands with the Peace Party for the Dumariaganj byelection but the two leaders fell apart after Mr Singh made some derogatory remarks against Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Mr Ajit Singh, on the other hand, said that the new political formation was open to the idea of a larger alliance with the Congress and/or Samajwadi Party but will not ally with either the BJP or the BSP.
“In the coming Assembly elections, we are working for the removal of the Mayawati government and there is no compromise on this issue. The BSP regime has become synonymous with corruption and criminalisation. Ms Mayawati came to power because she promised to put all criminals in jail but she ended putting them in seats of power,” he said. He said that the coalition of smaller parties would work effortlessly to provide an alternative.
Dr Ayub said that intellectuals had become disillusioned with the political system and he would make efforts to bring them into the political mainstream. He further explained that governments that had come into being in the name of religion and caste, had failed to do anything for the people.
“They came to power in the name of the poor and removed their own poverty, doing nothing for the poor,’ he said.