NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD, Apr 29: “The tail cannot wag the body, the body can wag the tail,” Congress leader Digvijay Singh said today rejecting the idea of extending outside support to a Third Front to form government to stop Narendra Modi.
Talking to reporters, Singh insisted that the dominant political party should lead the Government for greater stability and effective functioning of any coalition arrangement.
His remarks came in the backdrop of suggestions by several party leaders including Prithviraj Chavan, Salman Khurshid and Jairam Ramesh that Congress should back a Third Front if the need be to keep BJP out of power.
Singh’s remarks were also significant as these came on a day when Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel clarified that he was confident that the Congress and its allies will secure a majority and a Government of UPA-III will be formed.
Singh said the idea of some party, which gets 25 or 30 seats, leading a coalition Government with the dominant partner not being part of it, has failed in past.
Talking to PTI in Hyderabad earlier, Singh said extending outside support in a coalition setup is “impractical, utopian and unworkable”.
“My personal opinion is that outside support does not work… Outside support is something which is impractical….Too utopian. It has to be a pragmatic policy and working of a coalition has to be that everyone has to be accountable in the Cabinet. People from outside….I think….It does not work,” he said.
On the party extending outside support to the United Front Government in 1996, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said, “It didn’t work.”
The Congress leader’s remarks come after Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan last week said the party could form the next Government by joining hands with “the Third Front”, while Union minister Salman Khurshid said they could consider extending support to it or taking its help to form the Government if necessary after the Lok Sabha polls. (PTI)
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