Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will lead an eight-party combination of non-UPA and non-NDA members for a sit-in demonstration in Parliament House complex on Friday. Although the reason cited for the demonstration is bringing normalcy back to the House stalled for almost two weeks now over the coal block allocation controversy, it has triggered speculation that Yadav has made the first move towards forming another Third Front.
 
Besides the SP, Parliament members belonging to the CPI, CPI(M), RSP, Forward Block, TDP, BJD and the AIADMK will take part in the demonstration.
 
Yadav said the only way out of the Parliament logjam was instituting a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge. But the demand is seen as a ploy to take the wind out of the sails of the BJP and its allies, which have so far refused to budge from their demand for the PM’s resignation.

“Along with the CPI, CPI(M), TDP and BJD, we have decided to stage a sit-in in Parliament tomorrow. We want a probe into it (coal block allocation) and the guilty should be punished,” Yadav told reporters.

The SP chief’s move to cobble up an alternative political formation is being viewed in the light of his statement earlier this month that the SP was likely to head a Third Front government after the 2014 general elections.

The CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury said both the Congress and BJP were not keen on a debate on the coal block allocation. “Many things will come out of the cupboard. That’s why I said it was match-fixing.”
 
Dismissing the charge, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said, “There is neither any mock fight nor any match-fixing.”

Yadav, ostensibly, wants to be seen as maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and Congress. But he is likely to seek Congress support if there is a chance for a Third Front government.