Mulayam unveils 'UP shining' agenda

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has unfolded his own "development model" for the state, which seeks to promote all-round development and promises to set high life-style standards for the urban lower-middle and middle classes and provide mineral water to the poor.

Yadav's model is aimed at neutralising the Bharatiya Janata Party's development package much before the warming up of politics in the state, rehabilitation of Kalyan Singh into the BJP and declaration of the election schedule.

"India will not shine unless UP shines. India will not feel good, unless UP feels good," said Yadav's lieutenant and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, flanked by top industrialists including Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej and Subrato Roy and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, briefing reporters on the UP Development Council meeting held today.

"We are in a hurry to implement this model," Singh said, betraying the sense of political urgency to consolidate his political base on the eve of Lok Sabha elections.

When asked how he would ensure successor political regimes might undo the current government's plans leaving consumers high and dry, Singh said all administrative measures including getting the bureaucracy to underwrite the projects had been taken to ensure clearance.

"The state government has powers to give the environment clearance only to the tune of Rs 500 crore. So, we have met the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to seek the early clearance for big projects," Singh said, betraying his anxiety about the longevity of the government.

There was a determined attempt to project the "corporate image" of the Yadav regime.

That top industrialists lent credibility to the development council's plans became evident when Ambani and Roy made commitments to invest in the state in front of the media.

Expressing his gratitude to industrialists and making a politically loaded statement, the chief minister said, "My real fight is against poverty and hunger".

Dismissing doubts about the efficacy of the development council, Yadav said he had never expected the council to take the decision so fast. "You will see how the state develops," he said while declining to take political questions.

Indeed, it was a Amar Singh show right from the beginning. That the development council meeting coincided with his birthday was a clear indication of Singh's growing clout in the state.

"It was a birthday gift from Anil," he said when Ambani made an elaborate presentation of the Reliance group's commitment to set up a 3,500 Mw power project.

Similarly, Roy committed himself to invest Rs 20,000 crore for setting up urban dwellings in 10 districts.

If Roy is to be believed, the project will provide a upper class lifestyle to the lower-middle class and the poor who, Roy promised, would "get mineral water right in their kitchen".

Despite ambitious projections about the economic development, Samajwadi Party general secretary was cautious about politics and gave his measured response to queries with regard to Sonia Gandhi and Kalyan Singh.

"The issue has been settled," he said when asked if the Samajwadi Party would not raise the issue of Gandhi's origin.

Though Singh said his party would not have any understanding with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he exercised restraint about his remarks on Kalyan Singh, an OBC leader with a considerable support base in west UP.