AAP mobilising pro-people parties to form third front

The recent victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi Assembly elections is beginning to have its echo in Uttarakhand. The AAP has summoned a meeting of various organisations in Dehradun after February 15 to form a viable third front before the next Assembly elections due in 2017.

“We have taken the initiative to mobilise pro-people organisations in the state to form a core group which will provide a viable political alternative to the BJP and the Congress,” said Dr Shamsher Singh Bisht, AAP convener in Uttarakhand.

Bisht told this correspondent over the phone from New Delhi that Uttarakhand people required relief from the political culture of loot of the BJP and the Congress. For that, all people active in pro-people organisations need to be organised, he said.

“Activists from other regional outfits are in touch with us. They are likely to join the movement for changing the political scenario in the state,” he said.

UKD leader Kashi Singh Airy said though his party was already the third political alternative in the state, it was ready to lead the group of pro-people parties to form a stronger third political front. “The principles on which the struggle for a separate state was based are nowhere to be seen in the political and development scenario even 14 years after its formation. We need to ensure the state becomes a welfare state,” said Airy. Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) president PC Tiwari said his party was in touch with AAP leaders at the national and regional levels.

“At present, we are preparing for a meeting in Delhi called against the Land Acquisition Bill brought by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. A protest led by Anna Hazare will be held in New Delhi. We will meet at Nainital to finalise our future plans,” said Tiwari.