The BJP’s loss may become the putative Third Front’s gain. Proving, once again, that there are no permanent enemies in politics.
The BJP’s loss may become the putative Third Front’s gain. Proving, once again, that there are no permanent enemies in politics, the left parties, prime movers of the front, acted swiftly on Sunday to embrace Naveen Patnaik, who had cohabited with the BJP in Orissa for 11 years until Friday evening.
With the BJP’s 30 MLAs withdrawing support to Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal government in Bhubaneswar following the breakup of their alliance, the left parties, along with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, extended support to him.
A special session of the Orissa assembly has been convened on Wednesday for the government to seek a vote of confidence.
The BJD has 59 MLAs in a House of 147. Eight independents, including a BJP rebel, are supporting the party. With the two legislators of the CPI and CPI(M), two of the NCP, and four of the JMM, Patnaik will have 75 MLAs, one more than the 74 he needs.
The deal works more to the Third Front’s advantage. In exchange for two MLAs to save a government that anyway has only two months to go, it stands to gain at least a dozen MPs after the general election, a substantial number in what is expected to be a hung Parliament. And while the NCP and the JMM are currently allied with the Congress in their home states (Maharashtra and Jharkhand), neither is above switching sides after the elections.
The NCP, in particular, has been flirting with the Third Front.No wonder CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat immediately sent senior leader Sitaram Yechury to Bhubaneswar to “explore all avenues of cooperation”. The NCP, meanwhile, declared that it would contest the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in alliance with the BJD.
CPI(M) seniors said the priority for the party is to help save the state government and then hammer out a pre-poll alliance. “The party has decided to support the government in the event of a floor test,” Brinda Karat, MP, said. The party’s own list of candidates for Orissa, which was to be declared after Sunday’s central committee meeting, has been put on hold.
BJP is now likely to join the Third Front ahead of the Lok Sabha election in what will be a major setback for the Saffron party.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat revealed that the party had been in touch with
Patnaik for long, as the latter mulled over the future of his relationship with the BJP.
The Third Front so far has eight members: four Left Front constituents, the Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, AIADMK, and Janata Dal (Secular). Getting the BJD, a powerful regional player, on board will give it an undeniable boost.
Asked whether the state government’s handling of the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal had not tainted its record, Karat said that unlike other parties, “we had never asked for the sacking of the BJD government. Instead, we had asked Patnaik to reconsider support to the BJP.”
She said it was significant that the Third Front was attracting allies while the Congress and BJP were struggling to retain theirs.
For the BJP, the situation seems bleak. The party is also having seat-sharing problems with the Janata Dal (United) in neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand
—-With inputs from agencies
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