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This is an archive article published on March 28, 2004

Cong climbs down, finds no foothold

The Congress today invited the Samajwadi Party and the RLD to explore the possibility of seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh but neither party gav...

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The Congress today invited the Samajwadi Party and the RLD to explore the possibility of seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh but neither party gave a warm response to the overture.

Two days after it threatened the SP, the Congress today did a turnaround. Senior leader Pranab Mukherjee held out the hand of friendship and invited the SP and RLD to consider seat-sharing options. ‘‘We are inviting the Samajwadi Party to explore the possibility of seat adjustments between the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal,’’ Mukherjee said. He added ‘‘The Congress would not withdraw support as long as the party follows the principles on which we extended our support to it.’’ The Congress, Mukherjee said, was still supporting the Mulayam Singh Yadav government because it wanted to keep the BJP out.

Mukherjee also ruled out any suggestion of an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party.

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However, the Congress’ blow-hot-blow-cold attitude doesn’t seem to be going down well with either the RLD or the SP. The SP reacted strongly and said there was no possibility of a tie-up now. It has already released its name of candidates for 68 seats. ‘‘We had taken the initiative to strike an alliance with the Congress but it was running after the BSP. We were running after the Congress and the Congress was running after the BSP,’’ SP general secretary Amar Singh told reporters in Lucknow. He said the Congress never took any intitiative to talk to them.

The SP and RLD have a pre-poll pact in UP, under which the SP is contesting 70 seats and RLD 10 seats. The SP has announced the candidature in 68 seats, save Amethi and Ballia, where it will support former chief minister Chandrashekar.

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav told election rallies in UP that his party had made every possible attempt for a poll pact with the Congress but the latter was trying to strike a deal with the BSP.

In Kushinagar, he said there was no threat to his government in the event of Congress withdrawing support. ‘‘There is not threat to my government even if Congress withdraws support,’’ he said.

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Meanwhile, RLD leader Ajit Singh also reacted sharply to the Congress’ overture and said the offer had come too ‘‘late in the day.’’

RLD has fielded candidates in 10 seats. ‘‘Isn’t it too late in the day?’’ Singh said, adding that if the Congress was ‘‘serious’’ about its move, it should have contacted the parties rather than ‘‘appealing through the press’’.

‘‘There’s no use issuing the appeal through the press. They should have contacted us directly. Neither have I been contacted nor do I think they have approached Mulayam,’’ he said. Regarding seat adjustments, Singh said, ‘‘it seems unlikely as all parties have almost announced their candidates in UP.’’ The Congress turnabout came two days after it hinted that it was ready to take extreme steps if the SP continued in the path it had chosen for itself.

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