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Kalyan gets the sack finally, what next...

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Following Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Kalyan Singh's expulsion from the party today, the stage is now set for political realignments in Uttar Pradesh.

A disciplinary committee of the BJP submitted a report to the party president Kushabhau Thakre in Delhi this afternoon recommending Kalyan Singh's expulsion from the party for six years. The committee noted that Kalyan Singh's criticism of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was ''a grave act of indiscipline'' which showed that the former chief minister had lost faith in all the ideals that the party stood for.

People who have been following Uttar Pradesh politics believe that Kalyan Singh's expulsion was a foregone conclusion. But, now that the sack has finally come, the onus lies on him to create a viable alternative to his former party in the state.

The BJP is watching his every move. Ram Prakash Gupta, who led the rebellion against Kalyan Singh and eventually replaced him as the chief minister, briefs Delhi every day on his bete noire's activities. Sources said Gupta has a hotline to Vajapayee which he puts to use quite frequently.

Kalyan Singh for quite some time now has been promising a ''political bombshell.'' While he has given enough indications that he would be floating a new political party, it would interesting to see how many weighty leaders he is able to take with him.

Gupta, meanwhile, has begun targeting supporters of the expelled leader. The chief minister yesterday removed Kusum Rai, the controversial chairperson of the State Women's Commission. He has also indicated that he would soon remove chairpersons of various state corporations - most of them Kalyan Singh appointees.

"Now Kalyanji's charisma is under test. He will have to prove that he still has his hold on the backward classes," said party MP and film actor Shatrughan Sinha. "I feel he should have displayed more grace and maturity instead of criticising Vajpayeeji. This does not behove a senior leader," Sinha added.

However, two other BJP MPs, who wished to remain anonymous, regretted that a senior leader like Kalyan Singh had to part ways with the party because of differences with the high command. However, at the same time they felt that the high command had no other option but to take stringent action against Kalyan Singh for his consistent attacks on Vajpayee. "All things considered, discipline has won over dissent," said one of them.

The realignment of political forces in the state seems poised to gather momentum because of some aggressive moves by the BJP leadership to muscle into the backward class vote banks - for long a exclusive preserve of Kalyan Singh in BJP.

Party sources indicated that in order to minimise the damage caused by Kalyan Singh's ouster, senior BJP leaders had opened talks for a tie-up with Kanshi Ram's Bahujan Samaj Party.

If things work out in BJP's favour, the new combination is likely to prove quite a headache for Kalyan Singh.

Significantly, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh yesterday indicated in Parliament that his party would have no truck with Singh if he continued with his Hindutva agenda.

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