RPI leader calls for revival of Third Front

Criticising the Congress-led UPA government, president of the Ambedkar faction of Republican Party of India (RPI), Prakash Ambedkar, on Friday said that the emergence of the Third Front was inevitable as people of the country were disillusioned with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

Ambedkar said that it was unlikely that the government would complete its five-year tenure.

While addressing a press conference in Pune, Ambedkar said that Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh should decide whether to stay with the Congress, which was burdening the common man every day, or withdraw their support.

He added that the so-called farmers’ leader Sharad Pawar was supporting the diesel price rise, which will ultimately put burden on the farmers.

Pointing out that Congress had a one-point agenda to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister of the country, Ambedkar said, “People have lost faith in the Congress as well as the BJP and the power should go to the Third Front, which is likely to emerge at the national level.”

While criticising the government on the diesel price hike, Ambedkar said that the government should not have hiked diesel prices as the oil companies are showing profits in their balance sheets.

“The government should at least provide 12 gas cylinders per year for a family of five,” he said. He also demanded that the government should make public the long-term agreement on oil purchase from abroad, which enables the Centre to purchase oil at a fixed rate for a certain period.