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SP seeks to forge ties with Cong.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 23. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has decided to forget its dislike for the Congress and today emphasised the need for both to forge a broader secular unity in the country. In an attempt to bring about a thaw in the frosty relations between the two parties, the SP general secretary, Amar Singh, had a 90-minute meeting with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, last night to prepare the ground for such a unity.

Speaking to The Hindu today, Mr. Singh said in recent months, the party had extended cooperation to the Congress and such an association paid dividends on two occasions. It had endorsed the Congress nominee, Sushil Kumar Shinde, in the Vice-Presidential election, backed the Uttaranchal Chief Minister, Narain Dutt Tiwari, in the bypolls, and supported the Congress in the Sultanpur local body elections.

Asserting that during his meeting no specific proposal, either with regard to the Gujarat Assembly polls or Uttar Pradesh was discussed, Mr. Singh said the thrust was to work on a long-term understanding. "It is now for the Congress to respond to the SP overture.''

The SP was of the view that there cannot be "selective secularism' and that the political fight against the BJP had to be uniform throughout the country. During its recent national executive meeting at Bhopal, the SP chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had suggested that the Congress take the initiative to form a secular combination to fight the BJP in Gujarat.

The SP, which pulled out from the People's Front, after differences with the Left parties over the choice of candidate for the Presidential election, feels that the party has been `blamed' for the wrong reasons.

The Congress, for its part, was guarded in its response; stating that the meeting ought to be seen as part of a continual interaction between like-minded Opposition parties and would continue to take place.

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