The Hindu : Mayawati afraid of losing trust vote, says Ajit Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003

National

National

Mayawati afraid of losing trust vote, says Ajit Singh

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JUNE 23. The Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh was shying away from convening the State Assembly for the fear of losing the vote of confidence, the former Union Agriculture Minister and president of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Ajit Singh, said on Monday.

Participating in a `meet the press" programme organised by the A.P. Union of Working Journalists he said, "the BJP- BSP alliance knows that the moment the House meets, the Mayawati Government will fall. It is just a matter of time''.

The Uttar Pradesh Governor, to whom the four-party Opposition, including his RLD, had submitted a memorandum, was behaving like an agent of the Centre.

In the memorandum, the U.P. opposition sought the Government's dismissal or a direction to it to seek the vote of confidence. "But the Governor did nothing," he said and added that a change of Government would definitely have an impact outside. "There will be a change in political equations all over, not just in Delhi".

He charged the BJP with engineering splits in the parties forming part of the National Democratic Alliance. These include the Trinamool Congress, the Samata Party, the Biju Janata Dal and the Janata Dal. The BJP was thriving on making one section of the Sangh Parivar rake up an issue and asking another to counter it.

From Ayodhya down to the BJP leadership tussle, extreme elements such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, take one stand, the Prime Minister another, and the BJP president yet another.

Responding to a question, Mr. Singh said there was no way the BJP could win a majority of the parliamentary seats and it was bound to lose 80 per cent of the constituencies it represented now.

Mr. Singh said it was confrontation with the Finance Minister and others in the Union Cabinet, on issues relating to agriculture, from input subsidy to waiver of interest on farm loans, that he was forced to quit.

"I had to fight on almost every issue. The Government favoured industry lobby more than agriculture, seen in the way it announced a 11,600-crore package for the UTI but just about Rs. 2,201 crores of the National Calamity Contingency Fund for millions of farmers hit by drought".

On separate Telangana, he said he had been a consistent supporter of smaller States. A national front of movements for smaller states has come into being. At present, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and his party which was fighting for carving out Harita Pradesh from Uttar Pradesh, were active in the front. Efforts were on to activate the movement for separate Vidarbha in Maharashtra.

His support to the BJP was only after it promised support to Harita Pradesh. But it went back on its promise, which was another reason for his parting ways with the NDA.

It was surprising that the BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, took objection to his participation in the TRS meet at Warangal, when the state BJP had even included separate Telangana in the election manifesto.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National