New Delhi

Year of turnaround for Samajwadi Party, catapulted to political centre-stage

New Delhi: It was a year of turnaround for the Samajwadi Party which was catapulted to the centrestage of national politics when it extended a crucial prop to the UPA government in Lok Sabha but was mired in a cash-for-vote controversy.

The Mulayam Singh Yadav-led party turned from a foe into a friend of Congress after the Left parties withdrew their support to the ruling UPA coalition over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal leaving the government tottering. The swing in its fortunes made SP somewhat forget the bitter defeat at the hands of bete noire BSP in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Prior to this, the party till June this year, had been desperately trying to cobble up an anti-Congress and anti-BJP Third Front which was named United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA). The UNPA consisted of SP, TDP, Asom Gana Parishad, Indian National Lok Dal and Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). Even as the alliance was trying to acquire some shape, SP, which was the chief architect of this front, decided to support the UPA government triggering the disintegration of the front.

SP’s move to back the Congress-led UPA, however, was not without its share of drama.

After a series of secret meetings between SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and general secretary Amar Singh with various senior Congress leaders and Cabinet ministers, the party with 39 members in the Lok Sabha finally decided to support the UPA.

Though SP helped the UPA win the July 22 trust vote, it lost six of its MPs in the bargain, as they defected to Bahujan Samaj Party citing their opposition to the nuclear deal.

High drama was witnessed in the Lok Sabha during the trust vote, as three BJP MPs brought wads of currency notes in the House on the day and alleged that huge sums were offered to them by Congress and SP leaders to save the Manmohan Singh government. Earlier this month, a Lok Sabha Committee that went into the “cash for votes” scam exonerated SP MP Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel saying there was no evidence against them.

The Committee, however, recommended a probe by an “appropriate agency” into the role of Sanjeev Saxena, said to be an aide of Amar Singh, Sohail Hindustani, driver, and Sudheendra Kulkarni, an aide of BJP leader L.K. Advani.

SP refused an offer to join the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. While preferring to remain out of the daily rigours of running a government, Mr. Yadav managed to form a Coordination Committee with Congress, a political forum to discuss issues related to governance.

In its two meetings held so far, SP has raised issues including UPA’s policy on creation of Special Economic Zones, the Jamia Nagar encounter, allocation of spectrum to telecom operators and price of petroleum products.

Amar Singh emerged as the principal spokesperson of the party in the national Capital by interacting with Congress top brass. Mr. Singh, however, maintained SP’s critical stance and often charged the Congress leadership with not listening to his party.

“Be it political or economic issues, they (Congress leaders) do not listen to us,” Mr. Singh had said recently.

Mr. Singh’s comments had come after the government refused an assurance on judicial probe into the much-hyped Jamia Nagar encounter, an issue over which Mr. Singh was at his vitriolic best, and also managed to incite passions among residents of the area during his visits there in the run up to Delhi Assembly polls.

However, his efforts came to nought when his party candidate Wasim Ahmad Ghazi finished fifth at the Okhla Assembly seat in Delhi and the SP did not win a single seat in the State.

In fact, the party saw four of its MLAs in Madhya Pradesh shifting to Congress in September this year, citing “step motherly” treatment by leadership.

“Even though Congress wants an alliance with us in U.P., it is busy weaning away our MLAs in M.P. ... this has broken my heart,” Mr. Singh had said.

Ultimately SP fought the Assembly elections in M.P. on its own and managed to win only one seat.

The proximity between the two parties after the July 22 trust vote also saw them engaging in protracted talks over seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh to take on the ruling BSP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier this month, Mr. Yadav met Congress president Sonia Gandhi amid speculation that there could be problems over seat sharing in U.P. after the recent electoral wins of the Congress.

Incidentally, U.P. Congress leaders who had met Ms. Gandhi after the results of the five Assembly elections were out, had requested her to conclude the alliance talks with SP at the earliest. -- PTI

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