The leadership tussle in Uttar Pradesh Congress Party is as much on who it should ally with as it is on who should succeed Jitendra Prasada, who resigned as UPCC chief after president Sitaram Kesri nominated him as national vice president last month.
Prasada, and his opponents, led by former Union Minister Salman Khursheed, are pulling the party in two different directions which is clear from the way they are blaming the Samajwadi Party and the BSP respectively for the installation of BJPs Kalyan Singh as the chief minister of the State.
Jitendra Prasada wants the party to repeat its electoral alliance with the BSP which now rules the hearts of the Dalits, once the strong base of the Congress.
As against this, the anti-Prasada group in the state, which includes Muslim leaders like Salman Khursheed, is inclined towards an alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav who holds sway over majority of Muslims who were also once a strong base of Congress.
Kesri has decided to keep his political options wide open and concentrate on putting his own house in order. Organisationally though, he appears inclined to accept the proposal of the anti-Prasada camp who would prefer N D tiwari to a Prasada appointee.
When the issue of alliance with regional parties was put to Tariq Anwar, the Party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, he said the Congress would keep a distance from both BSP and the Samajwadi Party in the State and try to build an idependent base.
We will address the issue of whether to align with any of the two parties at all when the time nears for elections, Anwar told Business Standard.
While the Central leadership remains aloof, the two factions of the state unit reflect their differences as they react to BJP chief minister Kalyan Singhs reopening of the Ayodhya issue.
The post-Kalyan Singh attitude of the BSP has enthused the Prasada line, especially the BSPs warning on raking up Ayodhya issue. Mayawati has also said that her party could go upto any extent to see that the BJP did not cross a limit on Ayodhya and Harijan Act.
Congress spokesman V N Gadgil yesterday refused to go into the allegations of misuse of the Harijan Act and said any Act might be misused, but that did not mean that the Act itself should be repealed. He said there was need to in fact strengthening the Act.
Prasadas political agenda is clear from his comments on installation of Kalyan Singh in the State. He blamed the United Front for the creation of the BSP-BJP combination and installation of an unprincipled coalition.
As against this, Salman Khursheed demanded that the party must repudiate Mayawati, as without the support of our electora partner BSP, Kalyan Singh would not have become the Chief Minsiter.
The Congress Party yesterday Prasada does not agree and says that the apprehension of the proxy rule of the Samajwadi Party and fear of loot of power had forced the BSP to go-ahead with the alliance.
