Sharad Yadav, president of the party that leads the United Front government with Congress support, yesterday termed the Congress as much an enemy of the Janata Dal as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He ruled out the possibility of the United Front joining hands with the Congress for the next general elections.
Front leaders see the hand of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda behind Yadavs stand. Terming the Congress as an enemy at a time when the Congress working committee has adopted a strong resolution is seen as a move to accentuate the differences, and set off a series of rumblings within the coalition.
Both Gowda and Yadav have been working closely ever since the Janata Dal presidential elections. Gowda in particular has been trenchant in his criticism of the Congress, raising hackles within the Congress as well as among elements within the Front who would not like the boat to be rocked. Of late, Gowda has travelled to Patna and Bhubaneswar, and attacked the Congress.
In Bhubaneswar yesterday, Yadav said: For us, both the Congress and the BJP are enemies and we look at them as two sides of the same coin. While fighting communalism we will also combat the misdeeds of the Congress. There is no possibility of the United Front joining hands with the Congress in states where the BJP has a strong presence.
According to Yadav, the coalition will collectively decide its electoral strategy and gameplan before the next general elections to fight against both the Congress and BJP. Front sources, however, said he could not be unaware of the certainty that some constituents of the Front would align with the Congress in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Yadav remarked that it was a compulsion on the part of the Congress to pass the kind of resolution its working committee had earlier this week. Whatever they are saying is their compulsion and what we are doing is our compulsion, he said, and claimed that despite the noises being made by the Congress, the I K Gujral government would last its full term.
Party sources said both Gowda and Yadav had a tough time in Bhubaneswar persuading state leaders led by chief Ashok Das not to take extreme positions on the issue of the United Front accepting Congress support. Orissa is one of the several states where the arrangement with the Congress at the Centre has placed some constituents in a quadary at the state level.
Yadav, however, ruled out any possibility of a division in the Orissa unit of the party, and said: I acknowledge that there are differences within the party leaders but there is no apprehension of a split in the past nor is there any such possibility in the future. Both Gowda and Yadav spent three days in Bhubaneswar to bring the party matters in the state under control.
Yadav remarked that the late senior party leader Biju patnaik was the doctor who looked after the health of the party. After his demise, the partys health has remained excellent, but we want to improve it further, he said. When told that some 'patients are keen to see a new doctor (implying the move of some party leaders to form a separate regional outfit), Yadav quipped: They are certain to die.
