3rd Front fate to be known by March 13

Hyderabad: The fate of the Third Front proposed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to be known by March 13, when UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will host a dinner for leaders of Opposition parties, in Delhi, in an attempt to unite the Opposition against the BJP for the 2019 elections.

Mr Rao is keenly awaiting the outcome of Ms Gandhi’s dinner before making his next move.

Mr Rao’s Third Front has already received a jo-lt with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren shifting sides to the Congress within 48 hours of announcing his support for Mr Rao.

Mr Rao has now pinned his hopes on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is the only Chief Minister in the country to have supported him. If Ms Banerjee attends Ms Gandhi’s dinner, then Mr Rao’s Third Front will be stillborn.

Mr Rao announced his plans of floating a Third Front on March 3. It was well-received by his own party leaders and activists. At a public meeting on the occasion, Mr Rao announced he had the support of Ms Banerjee and Mr Soren, who had called him, and seven MPs from Mahara-shtra, though he did not disclose to which parties these MPs belonged. 

However, the initial eu-phoria faded the very ne-xt day with West Bengal media reporting that it is Mr Rao who called Ms Banerjee to seek her support, and Mr Soren announcing that he was with the Congress.

With no announcements from any top leaders of political parties in other states supporting the Third Front, Mr Rao sought to sustain the momentum by announcing an action plan to tour all the metro cities to meet retired IAS officers, defence officials, economists, intellectuals, employees’ associations etc., and seek their feedback and devise an agenda for the Third Front.

But this too is unlikely to materialise as the Budget Session of the Telangana Assembly begins on March 12 and will keep the Chief Minister busy till March-end.

The news that Sonia Gandhi is hosting a dinner for all Opposition leaders on March 13 has made it unnecessary for Mr Rao to act until he sees which way the wind is blowing and who will attend the dinner.