Prime Minister I K Gujral used the forthcoming Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad to wriggle out of the tight situation arising out of the rally organised by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow on June 19.
Gujral yesterday dropped his plan to attend the rally, on the plea that he wanted to be available for consultation before the bilateral talks.
In any case, there was considerable pressure on his not to attend the rally within the United Front.
Some UF leaders had linked up with Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party chief Ajit Singh, asking him not to attend the rally.
Their arguments revolve around the fact that a Prime Minister should not attend a rally which has been organised with a sole purpose of demanding the dismissal of a state government.
A government pledged to support federalism in true spirit and has regional parties as its major constituents cannot be seen to be interfering in the state issues, one senior UF leader.
He asked how could the Prime Minister attend a rally where each speaker will talk about dismissing the BSP-BJP government by invoking article 356.
The same Mulayam Singh Yadav had taken exception to the former Union minister of state for home, Rajesh Pilot, visiting Moradabad to look into the case of molestation of some nuns when he was the chief minister of the state.
He had seen this as the Centres interference in the state affairs, the UF leader added.
However, Left leaders do not find anything objectionable in the PM attending a partys rally. The Prime Minister also is a leader of some party and in that capacity he can attend a political rally, CPI secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said.
He added that former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao used to regularly attend Congress rallies in West Bengal and used to criticise the government. No one raised objections then, he said.
The rally has also been seen among UF circles as the one which will lead to a new realignment of forces. The CPI, which has so far been ignored by the SP in its post-election rallies in Uttar Pradesh, has been invited this time.
