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February 22, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96



Mulayam abetted UP coup to win in Sambhal

George Iype in New Delhi

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's political survival was said to be one factor that led to the toppling of the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

Close associates of the SP chief said the defence minister agreed to prop up Jagdambika Pal as UP chief minister as he feared that the Kalyan Singh government would have left no stone unturned to ensure his defeat in Sambhal.

The SP president faced the toughest electoral battle of his life in the Sambhal constituency where he was pitted against the BJP-supported Loktantrik Bahujan Samaj Party candidate D P Yadav.

Mulayam Singh feared that if Kalyan Singh remained the chief minister, the UP administration would ensure D P Yadav's victory through largescale booth capturing, rigging and violence.

The ousted UP chief minister, along with his two controversial ministers Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and Hari Shankar Tiwari, had visited Sambhal constituency on Friday.

They had reportedly directed the police and administrative officials that Mulayam Singh should not be allowed to win from Sambhal at any cost. Both Raja Bhaiyya and Tiwari had allegedly entered the constituency with armed goons and 400 vehicles to create problems on the polling day.

While Kalyan Singh returned to Lucknow on Friday, the two ministers were campaigning in Sambhal when the political coup in Lucknow took place.

Sambhal, along with 32 other constituencies in UP, went to the polls on Sunday. But polling in this prestigious constituency was by and large peaceful.

Fearing that the Kalyan Singh government was conspiring to trigger off violence in Sambhal, Mulayam Singh had written to the Chief Election Commissioner Dr M S Gill, asking him to ensure a free and fair election in his constituency.

The defence minister is said to have begun his political moves to topple the Kalyan Singh regime after D P Yadav filed his nomination papers from Sambhal.

Sources in the United Front said there was a general consensus in the Front as well as in the Congress party that Mulayam Singh's defeat from Sambhal would be a blow to the anti-BJP forces in the country.

Mulayam Singh and SP general secretary Amar Singh have been negotiating with non-BJP leaders in the state for some days now.

All the parties had agreed to a political coup against the BJP in UP even before the election campaign begun, but the only difference of opinion was about the next chief ministerial candidature. There was no consensus on Loktantrik Congress chief Naresh Aggarwal's name.

Finally, just one day before polling in Sambhal took place, Mulayam Singh's efforts succeeded and Jagdambika Pal emerged as the consensus candidate for the chief minister's post.

Pal is a Thakur and a close associate of Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh, a Thakur himself.

The new UP chief minister is also close to senior Congress leader Arjun Singh who has cordial relations with Bahujan Samaj Party president Kanshi Ram and is said to have convinced the BSP leadership about the need to throw out the BJP government during the course of the Lok Sabha election.

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