By IANS
New Delhi : National Conference patriarch and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah appears to have deferred his decision to join the Third Front, also called the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) consisting of parties not aligned with the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
All the UNPA leaders, barring Abdullah, met at the residence of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president Om Prakash Chautala here Saturday afternoon as the front decided to abstain from voting in the July 19 presidential election and also to put up its own candidate for the vice presidential poll to be held next month.
Abdullah had reportedly gone to meet AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha at the Maurya Sheraton hotel here Friday evening.
Explaining his absence in the meeting Saturday, Jayalalitha said, “Dr Adbullah came (to the hotel) for some informal discussions”, implying he is not part of the front yet.
Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party is also a part of the UNPA, said Abdullah was out of the town due to some personal work. “He is to join the UNPA but he will himself announce the decision later,” Yadav said.
Apart from Abdullah, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader and Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and BJP leader Jaswant Singh were also spotted in the same hotel Friday.
Jayalalitha, however, denied having met Kumaraswamy, but admitted to her meeting with the BJP leader. “Jaswant Singh was here to discuss the current political situation.”