Kahanduri's meeting with UKD chief sparks speculation

Dehradun, Jul 4: Speculation is rife that former Chief Minister B C Khanduri may ditch the BJP to head a Third Front in Uttarakhand assembly elections due early next year after the leader met Uttarakhand Kranti Dal chief.

"I am still in BJP but what happens in future, no one knows," Khanduri said when asked whether he sees any possibility of the formation of Third Front.

Khanduri met UKD president Trivendra Singh Panwar this week. When asked whether he held any talks related to the formation of the front, the BJp leader said, "Such meetings are routine. There was no desicive talk".

According to UKD sources, Panwar had requested Khanduri to head the Third Front to take on both the ruling BJP and Congress in the coming assembly elections which are due in Febraury next year.

Last month, BJP President Nitin Gadkari had said that the next assembly elections would be fought under the collective leadership of Khanduri, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and former Chief Minister B S Koshiyari in his attempt to end political rumbling in the party. Since then, Khanduri was keeping a low profile.

On the other hand, a BJP spokesman denied any rift in the state BJP and said all the top leaders were united to take on Congress in the next assembly elections.

"What you are hearing is a conspiracy hatched by Congress to harm the morale of BJP," he said.

Meanwhile, Panwar described his meeting with Khanduri as a "courtsey call".

"Such meetings are routine and don't draw too much inference. There is still a lot of time left for our future strategy," Panwar said.

PTI