Friday, Apr 26, 2002
Friday, Apr 26, 2002 |
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By Neena Vyas
Apparently, it is the BSP which is insisting on a formal tie-up and swearing-in ceremony before April 30 if the BJP wants a firm commitment of its support on the crucial vote in the discussion on Gujarat. With Parliament on holiday today on account of Mahavir Jayanti, there was a considerable flurry of political activity in relation to Government formation in Uttar Pradesh which is now under President's rule. In the morning, the BJP president, Jana Krishnamurthi, met the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to discuss Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Mr. Krishnamurthi returned from Ahmedabad last night and is believed to have briefed Mr. Vajpayee on the worrisome Gujarat situation. Modalities of Government formation in Uttar Pradesh reportedly figured in the discussion. Following this there was a meeting of Central and State BJP leaders at the residence of the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani. It was here that the party discussed in some detail the power-sharing arrangement to be finalised with the BSP and its own allies such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Besides Mr. Krishnamurthi, the BJP leader in-charge of Uttar Pradesh affairs, Kushabhau Thakre, and the State leaders, Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon, attended the meeting. Immediately after this, Mr. Mishra and Mr. Tandon drove to Ms. Mayawati's residence where they met her and the BSP president, Kanshi Ram, for 90 minutes. A signal that the talks were moving in a positive direction came when Ms. Mayawati and Mr. Tandon came out together for the benefit of reporters who had gathered there. They said ``everything has been finalised'' for the formation of a coalition Government in Lucknow. Later, Mr. Thakre told reporters that he expected the installation ceremony of the Chief Minister to take place ``by Monday'' (`somvar tak ho jana chahiye'). And naturally, before that the BJP parliamentary board would meet to reverse its decision earlier in favour of the party respecting the mandate of the people to sit in the Opposition. Mr. Krishnamurthi later indicated that so far he had not scheduled a parliamentary board meeting . Although BJP leaders were tight-lipped about what has been agreed with the BSP so far, it was clear that Ms. Mayawati would be the Chief Minister, there would be no Deputy Chief Minister, the post of Speaker would go to the BJP, ministerial berths would be shared equally between the BSP and the BJP, and the BJP would have to ``accommodate'' its own allies such as the RLD, the JD(U) and the Lok Janshakti from its own quota of ministerial berths. Apparently, one sticky point was the formation of a coordination committee. The BSP does not want a committee in which small groups such as the JD(U) and the LJS are given representation totally out of proportion to their strength. A common minimum programme of governance is also being hammered out in the interests of the smooth functioning of the Government. ``Both parties, the BJP and the BSP, have to learn lessons from the past experience (of shared power between the two parties),'' Mr. Thakre said. If things had not worked out earlier, then this time it could be different. ``If there has been drought some years, we also expect good rains in other years,'' Mr. Thakre said.
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