Diwakar Bhatt plans to form third front

Haridwar, April 10
Former Cabinet minister Diwakar Bhatt, who led activists during the movement for a separate state of Uttarakhand in 80s and 90s, has mooted the idea of forming a third front of regional and smaller parties in the state.
Recuperating from illness, Bhatt, who unsuccessfully fought from the Deoprayag seat on the BJP ticket in the Assembly elections recently, feels that had the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), the Bhrastachar Raksha Morcha, communist parties, the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch and the Uttarakhand Jan Morcha joined hands during the elections the political scenario would have been different in the state.
Bhatt told The Tribune that one year ago when the UKD broke into two factions -- the UKD (Democratic) under him and the UKD (Progressive) led by Trivendra Singh Pawar -- he wanted to resign but the mode and timing of taking support from the BJP-led government was not right.
It would have been better had Pawar generated a consensus among party leaders. “We had committed to supporting the BJP government in 2007 and hence it was not easy to backtrack without a substantial base,” said Bhatt at his Tarun Himalaya residence in Haridwar.
He added that he would try to regroup parties once again so that the people of the state could have a viable alternative in the next Assembly elections.
The veteran leader also expressed concern over factionalism and tussle witnessed in the Congress over Cabinet berths as this affected development works in the state.
Though Bhatt assured Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna of his full support on development and other issues concerning the state, he also gave a piece of advice to Congress leaders to not to showcase their infighting publicly.
He said he had no plan to join the BJP as this pact was done taking into consideration the political situation and wanted to unite smaller regional parties.