Zee Media Bureau/Deepak Nagpal
New Delhi: With the Lok Sabha elections approaching fast, efforts are underway to stitch together alliances and emerge as a credible force before the electorate.
In an effort to provide a third alternative to the voters apart from the ruling UPA and opposition NDA, regional parties are leaving no stone unturned in a bid to stitch together a third front.
And the latest initiative has been taken by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
As per reports, Kumar is holding talks with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(S) head HD Deve Gowda. The aim is to bring together 14 regional parties and form a “federal front”.
On February 5, the top leaders of these 14 parties are meeting here to hold talks on intricacies of such an alliance.
Part of the agenda will also be to join hands to scuttle any populist move which the ruling UPA government could be planing to announce during the upcoming Parliament session called to pass the Vote on Account.
The February 5 talks will be followed up with another meeting here, either on February 9 or 10. At that meeting, Kumar, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, Deve Gowda and other leaders are expected to prepare the blueprint for the front.
"We are keen on trying for a new front on the basis of understanding and cooperation to take on the Congress and the BJP in elections," Nitish today said, while ruling out a return to the NDA.
"There is no question of us (JD-U) returning to the NDA."
JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson KC Tyagi told a leading English daily that the 14 regional parties have already held talks once on October 28 last year.
