The Hindu : Karnataka News : Three political parties under one roof

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 26, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Three political parties under one roof

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 25. The much talked about Third Front has come about albeit in a different form in the State. Three political parties, Janata Dal (United) and the two new aspirants for the support of the people, the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and Samajwadi Party, have come together literally under one roof, the Sri Murugarajendra Community Hall on I Main Road, Gandhinagar (Central Jail Road), in the city. The building was earlier housing the Common Entrance Test Cell.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party founder, Mulayam Singh Yadav, inaugurated the party office in the building on Friday before leaving for the venue of the party convention.

The three contenders are expected to co-exist peacefully and for the time being will be neither friends nor foes. Interestingly, a section of the Janata Dal(U) has urged its all India President, George Fernandes, to consider the State Samajwadi chief, S. Bangarappa's appeal for the formation of the Third Front in the State.

The Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha has been launched by the rebel writer, Devanooru Mahadeva, and some of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Dalit organisatin leaders.

The Janata Dal (U), the oldest tenant among the three in the building, has its office in the ground floor, the Samajwadi Party the basement and the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha the first floor. There is another tenant in the building, the State Government Employees Federation.

Speaking to The Hindu, B. Somashekar, President, State unit of the Janata Dal (U), said there is nothing wrong in the parties occupying offices in the same building. Mr. Somashekar also appreciated the generosity shown by the swamiji of Sri Murugarajendra Mutt of Chitradurga by providing the building to different political parties.

A leader of the State unit of the Samajwadi Party said the building is located at a convenient place and that is the reason the party selected it.

In contrast, in 1972 the order passed by an Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Narendra Singh, in a property dispute had caused a flutter. The Congress (Organisation) and the Congress (Indira) had staked their claims to the Congress Bhavan, which is now in the custody of the Janata Dal (Secular). When the case came up before the official, he ordered that one of the parties function from the ground floor and the other from the first. The Congress (Indira) was then in a mood of aggression and was ready to wrest the building from the Congress (O). However, good sense prevailed and the former chose a building on Edward's Road as its abode.

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