Madanlal Khurana holds parleys with leaders

New Delhi, Apr 28: Efforts to form a Third Front as an alternative to Congress and BJP have gained momentum with former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana holding parleys with former prime minister V P Singh, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and other leaders.

According to sources, Mr Khurana who resigned from the BJP recently, met Mr Singh, Mr Raj Babbar who recently severed ties with the Samajwadi Party, Delhi JD(S) leader Shaoib Iqbal and Mr Ramvir Singh Biduri. The former prime minister had recently floated a political outfit "Jan Morcha" with Raj Babbar as its president.

Mr Khurana, however, held a separate meeting with Ms Bharti to discuss plans and to convey that he would be attending Ujjain Adhiveshan on April 30, where she would announce her new party.

Sources said that Ms Bharati is understood to have offered national presidentship of the proposed party which he, however, politely declined. In the 45-minute meeting, he, however, assured her of all the support.

He would again meet her on May 7 when Ms Bharti is expected to be in Delhi, sources said.

Confirming his meetings with these leaders, Mr Khurana told UNI that his discussions were mainly regarding to the formation of a Third Front. Discussions in this regard were on with many leaders.

He said several BJP leaders, who were not happy with the style of functioning of some of senior party leaders, were also supporting him in his efforts. He would be meeting them during the LOk Sabha session starting on May 10.

Continuing his diatribe against former deputy prime minister L K Advani, he said Mr Advani was self-centred and surrounded by some leaders who had no political base. He said he had resigned from Delhi Chief Ministership in 1994 at the ill advise of Mr Advani, even as RSS chief and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had advised to the contrary.

He said the BJP was now being run as a private limited company and had lost the family-like culture where every leader and cadre was treated with respect.

The former Delhi chief minister accused Mr Advani and BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra of keeping him away from the Delhi BJP.

He said that in 2004, when Mr Advani asked him to take up governorship of Rajasthan he had told him that he would like to work for the party in Delhi and be kept in the capital till mid-term elections. He said Mr Advani had initially agreed to his request but after three days at the instance of Mr Malhotra, insisted him to go to Rajasthan as Governor.

"It is the same Advani who in 1967 had declined to fight even a council election," he said, adding Mr Advani had been nominated to Rajya Sabha four times and could not win any election if a secure seat was not offered to him.

Mr Khurana yesterday announced that he would contest against senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra in the election, be it for assembly or Parliament.

UNI