Gandhi’s front pushed back by tepid response

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 25

Suspended AAP MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi’s efforts to form a fourth front got a lukewarm response from potential stakeholders as the round-table meeting convened here today was attended mostly by former party activists.

Akali rebel Pargat Singh, a key leader of Awaaz-e-Punjab, addressed the meeting, but he clarified that he was present in his “individual capacity”. No representative of the Bains brothers or Navjot Singh Sidhu turned up.

Talking to the media, Dr Gandhi said he had contacted Bains brothers several times, but they failed to make it. The MP added that he was not able to get in touch with Sidhu.

Former state AAP convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur was represented by former AAP leader HS Kingra and others.

State-level leaders of the Left parties were also conspicuous by their absence. CPM state secretary Charan Singh Virdi said neither they nor the CPI received an invitation for the meeting.

When asked, Manjit Singh of the Democratic Swaraj Party — which is part of Dr Gandhi’s front — said they would invite the Left parties at an appropriate time.

Dr Gandhi stressed the need for a “genuine regional political party”. He said the Akali Dal had betrayed Punjab, while AAP and the Congress had compromised the state’s interests on the directions of their high command. “We will work to build an alternative,” he said. It was also decided that the front would not confine itself to contesting the 2017 elections, but aim at being active afterwards too.