Don't attend 3rd Front rally: Cong to Pawar

Asks all secular forces to be together.

Congress today expressed its displeasure over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s plan to attend a rally of the Third Front in Bhubaneswar tomorrow and said it would be better if he does not share the dais with parties “opposed to Congress.”

Party leader and Home Minister P Chidambaram appealed to Pawar to desist from the move but NCP remained firm on its participation in the rally, saying “we wanted, want and will continue to want that all secular forces in the country should be together.”

At the AICC briefing, Chidambaram asked “Why should we be amused by Pawar’s action?” Noting that NCP has alliance with Congress in Maharashtra and is planning to have an alliance in Gujarat but no alliance in Orissa, Chidambaram said “It will be good if he does not share the platform with parties in Third Front which are opposed to Congress.”

NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said from Bhubaneswar that there was no question of the party being apologetic about its participation in the rally.

“Naveen Patnaik has taken an admirable stand by moving away from BJP and therefore we are supporting him. All secular forces should support him. His action has not only had impact on Orissa but on the entire country. NDA has been substantially weakened and therefore Pawar’s participation in the rally will be a triumph of secularism and democracy,” Tripathi said. The NCP has already claimed UPA was “intact” only in the government and “disbanded” only for elections.

It also said Manmohan Singh was only Congress party’s PM candidate and not that of UPA.