Congress, BJP gear up to corner Mulayam

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav appears to have been hemmed in by political opponents. Not just Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, but the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), too, led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will launch an anti-Mulayam campaign soon.

The Congress has said it is serious about reviving its fortunes in the state. Its obvious target is the Samajwadi Party (SP) headed by Yadav. The SP has a huge slice of the vote bank that once belonged to the Congress""the backward classes and the minority vote. Political analysts say any revival of the Congress will have to be at the cost of the SP.

Rahul Gandhi, MP from Amethi, today indicated to party workers that the road to success in UP was expected to be a long one. "The Congress should avoid making any compromises even if it means staying away from power for some more time if it wants to regain strength in the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Despite the fact that he ruled out any alignment with the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) agitation for the removal of Yadav, he agreed with the BSP that the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh was in a "very bad shape," a charge he has been making ever since Amethi sent him to the Lok Sabha.

"Certainly, the law and order situation in UP was terrible and posed a real problem for the workers who were genuinely working for the uplift of the party organisation."

Gandhi, who is expected to be given more responsibility in the AICC in the near future, said he wanted to work for the party and was not looking for any position in the organisation.

He also lamented UP's backwardness and lack of development despite its size and resources. Gandhi said despite being the largest state its contribution in the gross domestic product (GDP) was "negligible."

"I went to several southern states like Kerala and Karnataka and found them to be far ahead of UP, not just in terms of development but also the attitude among officials and the common people," he said.

To a question on what steps were needed for the revival of sick units in the Amethi parliamentary constituency, he said that besides working for expediting the settlement of ongoing court case of the closed Malvika Steel factory, which he had visited yesterday, agro-based factories would prove to be viable in the area as it would involve people in large numbers and help in their uplift.

More surprising than the Congress' stance was the opinion of the BJP. Party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi made it clear that SP had to go if the state wanted to prosper.

"We want the law and order situation in the state to improve, and it can only be done by removing the SP government," he said. The party will be launching an agitation soon under the stewardship of Vajpayee to call for the removal of Yadav.

Yadav himself has been receiving cold responses from old friend Left when it comes to the question of floating a third front to take on both the Congress and the BJP.