BJP for giving Mulayam enough rope

Although some concrete decision on advancing the Lok Sabha elections or holding them on schedule in September 2004 will be taken only after the five Assembly election results are out, a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders believes that the elections should be held as scheduled because Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav must be given "enough time to misgovern".

"Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, is our mainstay. Today, because we are in the Opposition, we are in a strong position in UP. We do not have to give any explanations about the state government's misdemeanours. But equally we have to give the Samajwadi Party enough time to mess up things for itself in the state.

"If Mulayam Singh Yadav is given free rein to make a hash of things, it is to us that people will turn as an alternative," a top BJP leader said.

The party is convinced that decisions like the formation of a UP Development Council along the lines of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, which has top industrialists "who have only a stake in making money, not in developing UP" will contribute towards hammering nails in the Samajwadi Party's coffin.

The BJP has 25 MPs in the Lok Sabha from UP. In the absence of a religious or other kind of wave or movement, this number can only go down.

Demoralised at losing the government in the state, the party is now reconciling itself to sitting in the Opposition and adopting the role of a critic of the government.

Yesterday, Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh gratuitously advised Yadav not to "bend under pressure" and "work independently", implying that the constituents of the Samajwadi Party-led coalition were extracting their pound of flesh from him as the price of supporting him.

Today, BJP general secretary MA Naqvi criticised the formation of "an extra-constitutional authority" like the UP Development Council. Naqvi hinted that the council could become an independent centre of power in the state.

Simultaneously, the party is hoping that given time, the people of UP, especially the upper castes, will forget the BSP-BJP experiment and the caste contradictions of the coalition and traditional supporters of the BJP will begin to return to the fold.

Mayawati's attack on the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today, the BJP is hoping, will aid in this process.

On the other hand, there is a view in the government that the timing of the next Lok Sabha election is such that the government has no choice but to hold general elections early.

The September-October period is not viable as an election season because of festivals. The preceding period from July to August is nearly always waterlogged in most of India. No one wants a summer election.

This means a February-March election is inevitable.

Mulayam sacks minister

Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Land Development and Water Resources and a BSP rebel Brijendra Pratap Singh was today sacked for allegedly criticising Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

"Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri has relieved Singh of his ministerial responsibilities," official sources said.

Singh, among the 37 rebel BSP legislators who joined the Samajwadi Party, had recently criticised Yadav for allegedly betraying him and other BSP rebel legislators.

Recently, Singh told reporters in Jalaun that Yadav had assured him and a few others Cabinet rank, but was made minister of state at the last moment.

Sources claimed that Yadav had summoned Singh to Lucknow yesterday. Later, the chief minister decided to drop Singh from the Cabinet.