Though Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has denied talks on forming a ‘third front’ now, the party feels such a bloc is very much possible after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Mr Yadav, who arrived here a day before Parliament’s Budget Session begins, denied that any parleys were being held to form a front. “There are no such talks yet,” he told reporters. The SP, however, believes a bloc of parties not affiliated to the BJP or the Congress will be formed after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The SP is also open to joining an informal coordination mechanism with the chief ministers of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and some others on national issues.
In a clear indication that the SP will not strain its relations now with the UPA-2 government, to which it provides outside support, Mr Yadav has invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul to the swearing-in of his son Akhilesh as UP chief minister in Lucknow on March 15.
But the SP is clearly moving into ‘Mission 2014’ mode. “There is no move afoot for the moment to form a new front. But we expect the Congress to be much weaker in major states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan after the poor show in UP. The BJP too appears not to be doing well. Therefore, the formation of a new bloc could very well take place after the 2014 polls,” said SP national general secretary Kiranmoy Nanda.
Soon after Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav reached New Delhi on Sunday evening, the two leaders attended the wedding of a daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. SP insiders made it clear there was no political motive in their attending the marriage function.