Search the Internet          Tips

SP asks Cong to support secular
parties in UP

Buoyed by the dissidence in the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party on Monday gave clear signals of fishing in troubled waters by asking the Congress to support secular parties to form an alternative government to the shaky BSP-BJP coalition.

"The moment the Congress decides [to give its support], the Uttar Pradesh government will fall in 24 hours," Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh declared after a meeting of the party's central parliamentary board in Lucknow. "The onus lies on the Congress... If Sonia Gandhi decides, things will happen. We pray that she decides soon."

He claimed that the BSP-BJP coalition led by Chief Minister Mayawati is 'almost dying'. He also denied suggestions that the Samajwadi Party was trying to topple the government, insisting the coalition would fall under its own weight.

Singh said the fact that even Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to 'run away' from Lucknow, canceling his press meet on Sunday, showed the gravity of the internal dissent in the state unit of the BJP.

He said the parliamentary board took stock of the situation in Uttar Pradesh where the "opportunistic coalition is tottering and the situation is ripe" for an alternative government. The Samajwadi Party is the single largest party in the state having 146 members.

Singh warned the Congress that history has shown that sometimes being neutral is a big crime. He said the ball was clearly in the court of the Congress as the need of the hour is for the secular forces to fight unitedly in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and at the Centre to defeat the communal forces.

The Samajwadi Party's plea to the Congress came a day after the disgruntled BJP and independent legislators in the state, who were denied ministerial berths by Mayawati, decided to meet on Wednesday to chalk out their future course of action.

Asked whether the Samajwadi Party was in touch with the disgruntled MLAs he evaded a direct reply saying in politics 'everyone is in touch with everyone', and the move would be done when the situation would come to a boiling point.

Singh said if the Congress failed to rise to the occasion, its commitment to the cause of secularism would be in doubt.

Singh said the Congress leadership should realise that the root of the communal problem in Gujarat was in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, and in such a situation the Samajwadi Party favoured unity of secular forces in Gujarat elections.

In a veiled threat to the Congress, Singh said if that party failed to work together with other secular forces in Gujarat, the Samajwadi Party would select its own candidates for all seats in the state.

Tell us what you think of this report