Mulayam cosies up to BJP

Samajwadi Party blames Congress for likely split in anti-BJP votes

Even as Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has spurned the Congress offer for an alliance, his dalliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP and Bihar is becoming increasingly evident.

Yadav turned down the Congress offer maintaining that the Congress leadership was to be blamed for division of secular votes.

What seems to have irked Yadav most was the announcement by senior Congress leader Arjun Singh in Lucknow that the Congress was looking for an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati.

"Strong possibilities of a pre-poll alliance with the Congress had emerged a few days ago and I had even sent Amar Singh to meet Sonia Gandhi. But Arjun Singh sabotaged the prospects as he announced that his party would withdraw support to my government before the polls," he said.

Obviously, Yadav is not ready to share the blame for a division in the anti-BJP votes because that would alienate Muslims from the Samajwadi Party. At the same time, Yadav is desperately trying to shed off his anti-Hindu image to win over Brahmins and Rajputs to expand his party's base.

But the selection candidates by the SP and the BJP hints at a tacit understanding between them to marginalise the Congress in UP and Bihar.

This has also been illustrated by selection of an upper caste candidate from Amethi by the SP, and the fielding of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist from Rae Bareli by the BJP, which is likely impact the Congress traditional base in the two constituencies.

In Amethi, Brahmins have been traditionally with the Congress, which has also co-opted Rajputs after the re-induction of Sanjay Singh in the party.

Similarly, the BJP has put up a weak candidate from Kannauj, a seat represented by Yadav's son, Akhilesh Yadav. Much against the wishes of local leaders, the BJP has nominated Ramanand Yadav, a close relative of the UP chief minister, from Kannauj. This is being seen as a trade-off between top leaders of both the parties.

On the other hand, Yadav is looking for a safe seat in eastern UP following the stiff resistance he is expected to face on account of consolidation of the Dalit- Muslim combine in Sambhal and Mainpuri, his traditional stronghold. The BJP is again playing the role of a facilitator to make the contest easy for Yadav.

But what appears to have given the boost to the BJP is Yadav's decision to contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Apparently, the selection of candidates has been done in a manner to eat into the votes of the "secular alliance", formed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and the Lok Janshakti Party. The Samajwadi Party leader has propped up leaders like Rajni Ranjan Sahu to impact the support base of Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Replying to a question that he was being dubbed by Laloo Prasad Yadav as vote katwa (party which will only serve to divide), the UP chief minister said there was no need to reply to such charges made by a person whose non-seriousness was known to all. "I do not know how the people of Bihar are tolerating this joker."

Though the UP chief minister has claimed that he has substantial following in Bihar, the ground realities indicate that the Samajwadi Party does not have any organisational structure in the state.

By all account, Mulayam's 40 candidates will be a great help to the BJP-JD(U) combine, which is banking on the consolidation of the upper castes and a section of Other Backward Classes against the RJD chief.

According to sources, despite the denial by the SP, Mulayam's actions will benefit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to a great extent.

On whether his not joining a secular alliance would benefit the BJP, the SP leader said, "Where do you think the battle against communalism is being fought? It is being fought not in Bihar or West Bengal, but in UP where my party relegated the BJP to the third position in the last Assembly elections."