The Hindu : Stalemate in U.P. as Cong. mulls over support to Mulayam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 03, 2002

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Stalemate in U.P. as Cong. mulls over support to Mulayam
By J. P. Shukla

LUCKNOW, MARCH 2. The Congress is still undecided over its stand on the formation of a new government in Uttar Pradesh, the State party chief, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, told the Governor, Vishnukant Shastri, here today. The party won 25 seats in the State Assembly in the just- concluded elections.

Mr. Jaiswal, who was invited by Mr. Shastri for consultations in his bid to explore the various options for forming a new government, said the Congress was pre-occupied with the communal tension in the country, following large-scale violence in Gujarat. It had not taken a decision on the situation in Uttar Pradesh. The high command had asked him to tell the Governor that the Congress would take a decision as soon as the situation was back to normal, Mr. Jaiswal said.

However, the Congress indecision is being interpreted as its reluctance to extend outright support to the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has already staked his claim to form the Government. The SP, with 143 seats in the 403- member Assembly is the single-largest party but still far short of a majority.

Mr. Jaiswal did not express any support to Mr. Yadav while replying to reporters' questions after meeting the Governor. On whether his party did not feel it was proper to help Mr. Yadav form a secular government in the State, he said the definition of ``secular'' was very wide. ``This is not the proper time to give a certificate of being secular or otherwise to anyone.''

The Congress was firm on its stand of maintaining equal distance from both the communalist and the casteist forces. And he was there as the UPCC president only to strengthen his party's ideology.

Mr. Shastri said Mr. Jaiswal had assured him that the Congress would communicate its stand in writing by March 5. In any case, he would wait till March 6 before taking a final decision on government formation. He had invited the Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader, Ajit Singh, for consultations on March 6. Though he had received the Bahujan Samaj Party's opinion on the issue, he would like to talk personally to its leader, Mayawati, again.

The Congress stance has further strengthened the doubts over the formation of a popular government in Uttar Pradesh. While the Bharatiya Janata Party, its allies and the BSP with their combined strength of 205 are enough to check the SP, the ambiguous stand of the Congress has dampened the SP's prospects further.

There are reports of differences among the Congress MLAs on support to the SP. One section is stated to be strongly opposed to the claim of Pramod Tiwari, who was the CLP leader in the outgoing Assembly.

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