DMK to join govt, Mulayam will stay out

MANDATE 2004

Giving a fresh letter of support to the Congress-led government, the DMK today announced its decision to join the coalition government in view of the "changed circumstances." The Samajwadi Party (SP), on the other hand, said the leadership of the Congress was its internal matter and the party would support the new government but not join it.

The DMK yesterday announced its decision to join the government after Congress President Sonia Gandhi called on party chief M Karunanidhi and persuaded his party to join the government now that she was not becoming Prime Minister.

The DMK handed over the letter of support to Congress leader Kamal Nath, who accompanied Gandhi during her meeting with Karunanidhi.

Announcing his party's decision, SP General Secretary Amar Singh said: "It is the decision of our parliamentary board to follow the Left parties. As the CPI(M) is not joining the government, we are also not joining it," Singh told the media yesterday.

He termed his party's decision to support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) from outside as just a "contribution" to a secular alliance at the Centre, an acknowledgment of the SP's secular credentials.

The tragedy of the Samajwadi Party is that despite securing 36 seats in the Lok Sabha they are not relevant to the process of government formation.

Which is why, instead of being in the prime ministerial race, as he had claimed earlier, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will be giving up his Lok Sabha seat to remain Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Later, Mulayam denied reports that he had decided to resign from the membership of the Lok Sabha. "No such decision has been taken so far in this regard," Yadav told PTI.

On the now infamous "allies dinner" at Gandhi's residence, 10, Janpath, on Singh said: "That was the first time I went anywhere uninvited, and shall never do so again."

"We are not bitter, but by refusing to join the government, we are rejecting the Congress before it could reject us," he said.

It is no secret that a section of the Congress did not want the SP to be part of the new government for fear of hurting the revival of the party in Uttar Pradesh.

The SP, which was looking for a way to secure its minority government in the state, now being given outside support by the Congress, returned disappointed despite making a desperate appeal to CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the main co-ordinator of the alliance.

Now that a mutual rejection has taken place, Singh said the SP and Congress wanted to occupy the same secular space in politics, and "therefore we cannot be participants in the government." A pointer to the fact that the Congress may expect no favours from the SP in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh's reaction on Sonia Gandhi's decision to decline the Prime Minister's post was also telling.

"If Sonia Gandhi has rejected the post for fear of her personal safety then I would consider it a wrong decision. Politics is a hazardous calling, but there is no need to give up on the top most political post for fear of safety," he said.

On the course of action that their ally in Uttar Pradesh, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh would take, Singh feigned ignorance. "Till now they agreed with us, let us see what they want to do," he said.

Gandhi also met Surjeet to apprise him of the circumstances under which she had taken the decision and that the allies should support her party-led government.

Surjeet later said "the Left will part of a mechanism to ensure the common minimum programme is followed".