Farmers’ leader to form third front

Peasant leader and Independent MP of Hatkalange-Kolhapur Raju Shetty will float a front with smaller parties for the state elections.

Peasant leader and Independent MP of Hatkalange-Kolhapur Raju Shetty will float a front with smaller parties for the state elections.

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Shetty defeated the NCP in in western Maharashtra this Lok Sabha elections. He heads Swabhimani Paksha and a farmers’ outfit, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana.

On Monday, he announced that he would form a third front for the state elections.

Shetty has joined hands with Lokbharti Party and is inviting ‘secular and like-minded’local parties to join them to give voters a good ‘third alternative’.

“My experience in the Lok Sabha election has been that people are tired of the traditional fronts, the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA. If given a good alternative like our third front, we will work for the common man,” Shetty said.

“The agenda will be to emphasise on agriculture and farmers’ rights, unemployment issues and education,” said Kapil Patil, MLC and president of Lokbharti Party.

They are not considering MNS or Jan Surajya Party for their front.

Once an associate of farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi, Shetty came into the political limelight after he led an agitation for Minimum Support Minimum Price for sugarcane growers in Kolhapur district.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Shetty defeated two-term sitting MP from NCP Nivedita Mane.