'Rajnath will be forced to hold U.P. polls soon'

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, SEPT. 9. The Samajwadi Party leader, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, seems to have changed his strategy to force the State Government to hold early elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Talking to newspersons here today, Mr. Yadav said he had never declared that his party MLAs would resign next month when, according to one opinion, the term of the House would come to an end.

Asked when he expected the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, to order the elections, the SP leader said the Chief Minister would be forced to conduct elections very soon. His party had decided to launch a strong agitation against the anti- people policies of this Government and elections could not be delayed now.

A meeting of the Samajwadi Party office-bearers held here today adopted a resolution which criticised the BJP-led Government for its acts of omission and commission. While the BJP-led Government at the Centre had failed on every front, in Uttar Pradesh it had not been able to solve any problem of the people.

Peaceful agitations were being mercilessly crushed while criminals and anti-social elements were being allowed to have a field day. While floods played havoc in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Government ``remained unconcerned''.

The resolution expressed concern that a section among supporters of the Government had launched a campaign through the media that construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya would start from March.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, had simultaneously announced that an agreed solution to the temple issue would be found by that time. Both these stands appeared mutually complementary. The Samajwadi Party was keeping a strict watch on the situation and getting prepared to reply to these attempts to ``create terror'' among the minorities.

Prices of agricultural products had crashed and the U.P. Government had already announced its decision to sell out 11 sugar mills of the public sector. Four of them had been ``purchased'' by family members of a Minister. Sugarcane price arrears had not been cleared. ``There were also chances of farm producers to fall in a difficult trap very soon. Distress selling of sugarcane and paddy in the coming season were very much on the card.''

Mr. Yadav claimed that the new economic policy of the BJP-led Government at the Centre had resulted in 10 million people having been rendered unemployed during the year 1999-2000. And the problem was likely to escalate further during the years to come.

The U.P. Government directive to deport illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was a part of a conspiracy to cause riots, Mr. Yadav alleged and added.

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