Date:29/01/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/01/29/stories/2004012907281100.htm

National

Mulayam rules out tie-up with BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI. JAN. 28. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, today denied that he was a prime ministerial candidate. "I am not in the run for the prime ministership, I am happy doing what I am doing right now," he said.

Mr. Yadav, who was talking to newspersons after a meeting of the central parliamentary board of the Samajwadi Party, said there was no question of a tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "Suggestions that I can even think of aligning with them is the worst kind of political abuse," he said.

The party's national council and executive had decided against any pre-poll alliances and nothing had happened in the interim for the party to change its stand. "Our stand is clear. We will not be a part of any front, but will give and take issue-based support."

Mr. Yadav said the party had decided to put up candidates in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana too.

On the BJP's "India shining" campaign, he said: "It is not shining anywhere. They have become victims of their own propaganda and early polls may boomerang on them."

Mr. Yadav refused to say which party the Samajwadi Party would support after the elections. "It will all depend on how many seats the parties will get."

Though Mr. Yadav made it clear that the foreign origin issue was not a factor any more, he refused to comment on the impact the entry of Priyanka Vadra and Rahul Gandhi would have on the political scene. "The recent by-poll results have proved the impact of the Samajwadi Party," he said.

On a possible tie-up between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the State, he said the BSP and the BJP were the two sides of the same coin. The Mayawati-led party had aligned with the BJP, he pointed out.

Mr. Yadav parried questions on the possible return of the Rashtriya Kranti Dal leader, Kalyan Singh, to the BJP. "We will talk about it when it happens. Two days ago, we had a very lengthy telephone conversation and I am very satisfied with it," Mr. Yadav said.