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Is Mulayam gearing up to 'divorce' UPA?
Friday November 16, 2012 06:55:05 PM,
Mohit Dubey,
IANS
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Lucknow: Known for his
wrestling moves during his days in home village Saifai, Samajwadi
Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav pulled a similar one, albeit
politically, on the Congress Friday as the party released its list
of 55 candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
As his cousin and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav
announced the list in the state capital, whispers of an impending
"parting of ways" with the Congress were heard from Lucknow to New
Delhi.
While Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish
Tewari allayed speculations of snap polls, Ram Gopal Yadav said in
Lucknow that his party was prepared for the Lok Sabha elections
"any time they are held".
What also set the cat among the pigeons is Ram Gopal's statement
that he did not rule out fielding candidates against Congress
president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, both MPs from
Uttar Pradesh.
While Mulayam Singh had earlier announced that his party would not
pit candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, his cousin and senior
party strategist Ram Gopal Yadav said he was not saying no to it
right now.
Rahul Gandhi is the Lok Sabha member from Amethi while Sonia
Gandhi is elected to the house from Rae Bareli.
"We are yet to release the list of remaining 25 seats. As of now I
cannot rule out anything," Ram Gopal Yadav said.
The simmering disconnect between the SP and the Congress was
evident when asked to comment on Rahul Gandhi being given charge
of the Congress's campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Ram Gopal
Yadav said: "See the history of Rahul Gandhi and you will get to
know what he is capable of."
This is in stark contrast of Ram Gopal Yadav's proactive attitude
in the run-up to the presidential election where he made Mulayam
Singh support UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
An SP leader, refusing to be named, said that the Congress and the
SP were together due to "political compulsions". "We cannot see
eye to eye because our thought process, political ideology,
everything is diametrically opposite," he said, while admitting
that all was not well between the two parties.
The gloves, an insider opined, were off because the Planning
Commission had refused to sanction Rs.800 crore which Uttar
Pradesh demanded for the Maha Kumbh 2013 preparations. A section
of the party, which was keen to maintain cordial relations with
the central government for a "financial cushion" to the Akhilesh
Yadav government, now feels cheated and is ready to view the "topsy
turvy" relationship afresh.
Some SP leaders also have emphasised to Mulayam Singh that tagging
along the graft-tainted UPA could prove counter productive at the
hustings. Another reason for moving away from the UPA is the
Congress's continued engagement with arch rival and Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
hosted for lunch recently.
With 21 MPs, Mayawati continues to wield considerable political
clout in New Delhi.
While most admit that fast-tracking preparations for the general
elections could be Mulayam Singh's way of signalling to the
Congress that they should not take the support of the SP's 22 MPs
for granted.
(Mohit Dubey
can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
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