New Delhi: Possibly to circumvent the political baggage and corruption taint associated with its name, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is now likely to be renamed as the ‘People's Progressive Alliance’. All the erstwhile parties in the UPA I and II and some more, who have decided to fight as a group against the current BJP dispensation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would position themselves by this name in case any alliance is formed before or after elections.
Opposition sources told this newspaper that the name had been arrived upon after much discussion between parties as UPA had come to be associated with corruption and had a lot of baggage associated with it.
It might be recalled that Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had announced a pre-poll tie-up and a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) last week after a meeting between top Opposition leaders. Ms Banerjee had subsequently also said that a meeting would be held on February 25-26 where the Congress would present a draft CMP. Congress President Rahul Gandhi had also been present at the dinner meeting, which included NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
However, sources indicated that differences have been brewing over the decision to announce a pre-poll tie-up as many parties are arch rivals in their respective states and would be fighting each other in the upcoming polls. “Any such alliance should be possible only after the polls,” a senior Opposition leader said.
Differences have also been simmering over who would draft the CMP. Sources in the Trinamul Congress said that before Ms Banerjee announced that the draft provided by the Congress would be discussed, the TMC had approached rebel BJP leader and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha to draft such a document.
This would have lead to problems for the Congress which does not want to be seen associating itself with a former BJP Union Minister.
On his part, Mr Sinha, however, when contacted said that no one had approached him for drafting any CMP. "I have not been approached by anyone. Also if there is any meeting on Feb 25-26, I would not be able to attend, since I have other commitments,” he said.
