Date:14/02/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/14/stories/2003021405191100.htm

National

Mayawati wants Joshi to attend meetings

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 13. Serious homework is being done both by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party ahead of the two meetings here on Uttar Pradesh on Friday and Saturday. Leaders of both parties are expected to come to the meetings armed with facts and figures and ready to openly express their grievances. Some informal discussions have already taken place within the BJP.

The U.P. Chief Minister, Mayawati, has reportedly conveyed to the BJP leaders that she would like the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, to be present when she meets the BJP leaders, including the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, on Saturday to try and sort out the present mess between the two ruling coalition partners in the State.

Following this, the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, telephoned Dr. Joshi and invited him to the meeting, party sources disclosed here today. The Uttar Pradesh State unit president, Vinay Katiyar, also met Dr. Joshi separately on Wednesday ahead of the party's internal meeting tomorrow and the meeting with Ms. Mayawati on Saturday. Dr. Joshi has very cordial relations with Ms. Mayawati and was seen as the key person who made the coalition possible. Mr. Katiyar now wants him to use his good offices to mend the State party's indifferent relations with her.

So far, for its own internal factional reasons, Dr. Joshi was being kept out of the critical discussions on U.P. although he is an MP from that State. But now it is being admitted that the mess in U.P. has gone "out of hand" (as one leader put it), and something drastic has to be done to prevent the BJP-BSP leaders from criticising each other publicly too frequently.

The BJP meeting on Friday is scheduled at Mr. Naidu's residence. Besides Dr. Joshi, others who will be present are the general secretary, Rajnath Singh, Mr. Vinay Katiyar, general secretary, M.A. Naqvi, and State leaders Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon. Mr. Advani may join the discussions later or the entire group may go and see Mr. Advani.

The next day, the meeting will be between Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Advani and other BJP leaders and perhaps later there will be a meeting at the Prime Minister's residence.