Rajnath given a free hand

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 12. The three major players in Uttar Pradesh - the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party - have already been infected by the Assembly poll fever, but it seems the Congress is yet to realise the elections may be closer than it thinks.

The fluid situation in the State and the fractured polity has led to frantic efforts by parties to ensure that their support base does not slink away and they are able to win over new sections of the electorate. The dismissal of Mr. Naresh Agrawal from the State Cabinet has already set the ball rolling. In the months to come, sitting MLAs will be trying to gauge the mood of the electorate and many may move to greener pastures. A State BJP leader has already predicted a movement towards the SP and the BSP even from the BJP ranks.

The BJP high command has signalled it has given a free hand to the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, whom it considers its best bet (though some think he is not good enough to take the party to a win, given the gloomy scenario for the party). Apparently, at a dinner meeting last week at the residence of the party MP, Mr. Ashok Pradhan, the Prime Minister virtually silenced MPs from the State when they tried to find fault with the Rajnath Singh Government.

Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP president, has been concentrating more on Uttar Pradesh and less on Parliament, addressing at least one meeting a day. Ms. Mayawati of the BSP has been busy setting her house in order. But the Congress has not even completed the task of putting its organisation in place.

Last November, Ms. Sonia Gandhi was elected the AICC president. A special resolution authorised her to set up State executive committees, but it was only last month that the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee was constituted. The district and city level committees are not yet in place, as a result of which the party campaign has been held up.

Sonia's plans

Senior party leaders confirm that Ms. Gandhi had plans to complete one round of the State by addressing a meeting in each of the 17 zones into which the party has divided the State. However, party managers later advised her against this on the plea that the organisation machinery was not in place. By contrast, Mr. Yadav and his son have been on the road. Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, SP chief's son and MP from Kannauj, has begun his `kranti rath yatra'. According to SP sources, the party chief plans to visit each of the district headquarters by month-end. Senior BJP leaders have also plans to complete a series of meetings with party workers in the State, and they have begun the process of identifying workers from other State units who could be inducted into the U.P. campaign effectively.

The Vajpayee Government, by making Mr. Ajit Singh a Cabinet Minister, has secured a new partner in the polls. His nine MLAs have already come in handy. Mr. Singh today categorically stated that whenever the need arose, his flock would support the Rajnath Singh government.

EC schedule

Although the Chief Minister himself has said he would prefer elections in February (the Election Commission's schedule shows U.P. elections due in March), the matter is before the High Court, as parties such as the SP have argued that the five-year term of MLAs comes to an end this October and they cannot continue beyond the term for which they were elected. However, the BJP's view is that the tenure ends only in March, 2002 as the Government was constituted six months after the elections.

The reported SP plan to get its MLAs to resign en masse in October could set the ball rolling an result in an election later this year, for the BJP has been tinkering with the idea of dissolving the Assembly if the SP MLAs and those of other Opposition parties were to resign. There are many in the BJP who feel a later election would be counter-productive in the face of an expected Opposition claim that the party was sticking to power beyond the five-year term.

I have a comfortable majority: Rajnath

LUCKNOW, AUG. 12. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, today opposed dissolution of the State Assembly, saying his Government enjoyed a comfortable majority in the House.

There was also no need to advance the Assembly election as it was scheduled to be held in March next year, he told PTI in an interview.

On the withdrawal of support by the Loktantrik Congress Party, he said all the LCP legislators with the exception of the dismissed Minister, Mr. Naresh Agrawal, had pledged support to him. He also denied that his Government was ``luring'' LCP MLAs with offers of ministerial berths.

Dismissing Mr. Agrawal's claim that some LCP Ministers had sent their resignations to the Chief Minister, Mr. Singh said he had not received any resignation letter.

Asked whether an inquiry would be held into the corruption charges against Mr. Agrawal, the Chief Minister said people already knew well the misdeeds of certain politicians in the State.

To a question, the Chief Minister said the Samajwadi Party was dominated by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav's family while the Bahujan Samajwadi Party stood for certain castes and was run in an ``autocratic'' manner.

In another interview to Aaj Tak television channel, Mr. Singh asked the Opposition to bring a no-confidence motion against his Government in the State Assembly if it so desired. ``If Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav wants to bring a no-confidence motion in the Assembly and try to defeat our Government, he can do so.''

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