NEW DELHI: To display Opposition unity, the INLD has invited Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Farooq Abdullah for its September 25 rally which will also be attended by Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav, party leader Abhay Chautala said.
The INLD national general secretary said the former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik have also been invited to the rally.
Addressing a rally in Rohtak recently, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala had said an announcement related to the launch of the third front may be made from the stage of the September 25 rally being held at Fatehabad.
Speaking to TNIE, INLD spokesman Rakesh Sihag said, "Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had recently met former CM and party supremo OP Chautala at his residence in Gurugram. On Chautala’s invitation, he (Nitish) agreed to attend the rally and also called his Deputy CM Tejashvi Yadav and extended him the invitation for the rally. Both of the leaders said that when two politicians meet, it is evident they will discuss politics. Now after Nitish Kumar has broken the alliance with BJP, this movement to form the third front has got shot in the arm. While Chautala yesterday met former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav at Medanta hospital in Gurugram and wished him a speedy recovery besides inviting him for the rally. In July last year, Chautala started the talks to form the third front."
"Last month Chautala met former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and about ten days back Abhaya Chautala met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi. Now OP Chautala will be meeting West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, former J&K CM Farooq Abdulla, former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandra Babu Naidu, and Telangana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao to invite them to the rally and to carry forward the talks on the formation of the third front. As the public is not fed up with the ruling BJP, the time has come that all opposition parties to get together to throw BJP out of power at the centre," said Sihag.
He added that the rally will be the foundation stone of the third front as it will be held in the new grain market in Fatehabad. Sihag claimed that lakhs of people will attend this rally.