The Janata Dal (United) is organising a convention in New Delhi on October 30 in a bid to bring all non-Congress and non-BJP parties on the same platform. The JD(U) broke ranks with the BJP over the ascendance of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in its hierarchy,
Coming ahead of the 2014 general election, the convention can be seen as an exploratory mission by like-minded parties for a possible role in the post-poll scenario.
However, party leaders have made it clear that it is not an initiative towards a third front. The Left parties have already ruled out possibility of such a front.
The ‘Convention Against Communalism and For Unity of People’ is an “effort is to bring all non-Congress non-BJP parties, which are against price rise and corruption in the present government,” say JD(U) leaders.
Representatives from Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK and Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal will attend the meeting along with leaders from the CPI(M), the CPI, the Samajwadi Party and some parties from the north-east.
A letter addressed by the JD(U) to the non-Congress and non-BJP parties said, “Communal riots are increasing in the country. Communal forces are involved in fanning communal tension, which is provoking communal violence,” adding the recent riots in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh were “a matter of concern for all of us.”
So it “has become necessary that democratic and secular forces reply to this challenge by coming together, maintain the unity of people and protect secularism,” says the letter.
