‘ Third Front not likely, Opp. must unite before 2019’

New Delhi, May 13: Senior socialist leader Sharad Yadav has said that he does not see any possibility of a third front emerging before the 2019 general elections, and suggested that all opposition parties should unite to fight the ruling BJP.

Mr Yadav said efforts by a few political parties to provide an alternative to the BJP and the Congress would not affect the unity among the other opposition parties to put up a formidable front against the saffron party.

Asked whether the efforts by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and TRS head K. Chandrashekar Rao to cobble up a federal front of regional parties would damage the opposition unity, he said, “I don’t think the third front will come into existence. Wait for some time, the people trying to form a third front will themselves start talking about a united opposition.”

“This time, protecting the Constitution is the challenge. I am satisfied with the success achieved in uniting all parties and organisations on the platform of a shared legacy to bring India out of the trouble the Modi government has pushed it into.”

Mr Yadav said he is regularly communicating with all political parties in opposition and will unite them when the time comes. Stressing that a united opposition is the only option, he said if the parties ignore this fact for narrow and regional gains, the BJP would teach them a lesson in the upcoming elections.

He acknowledged that bringing together parties with similar ideologies is a serious task but said it is not impossible.

Asked if mistakes by young leaders of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Rashtriya Lok Dal contributed to the BJP’s spectacular rise, he said, “People who dismiss experience are punished, but when they correct those mistakes, they are rewarded also.”