The surging crowd of Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) workers outside the 2 Mall Avenue residence of national chief and former CM Kalyan Singh returned disappointed as the issue of his joining the BJP did not even come up at the executive meet. ‘‘Hum jahan the, wahan hain. Mere BJP join karne ki to charcha tak meeting mein nahin huee (I am where I was. My joining the BJP was not even discussed during the meeting),’’ Kalyan Singh said after the meeting of party workers, MLAs and ministers. The national executive has authorised Kalyan to take any decision for the betterment of the RKP in the present and the changing political scenario. Ahead of the meeting, though, it was a festival-like atmosphere at his house. Workers arrived in waves, raising slogans that Singh join the BJP. Kalyan, however, is all caution before he takes his next political step. He was soft on the BJP on many issues and avoided criticising the party leaders, unlike his aggressive stance since expulsion from the party in 1999. Today, it was his turn to throw around his weight. ‘‘This was a message for the BJP and also the Congress that Kalyan is a force to reckon with in the state which has maximum Lok Sabha seats in its kitty,’’ an RKP office bearer said. The Congress too has given rise to speculations that party president Sonia Gandhi is likely to talk to Kalyan to persuade him to join the non-BJP coalition for the coming Lok sabha polls. ‘‘So far, I have not received any proposal from the Congress. But it is also true that this is an era of alliances and each political outfit will have to go for that to achieve success,’’ said Singh. Insiders, however, said Kalyan is awaiting a formal offer from the BJP to announce his homecoming. The RKP is expected to take a decision at its national executive committee meeting on January 12. While dismissing questions on his joining the BJP with ‘‘Yeh kalpanik sawal hain (This is a hypothetical question)’’, Singh, however, took on CM Mulayam Singh Yadav for going incommunicado after he met PM Vajpayee in Lucknow on December 24. ‘‘Mukhya mantri bahut vyast hote hain (The CM is very busy),’’ he said on being asked if the two had any communication since December 24. ‘‘My coalition with Mulayam was formed at a critical juncture and even before the Rashtriya lok Dal joined our alliance. On my part, it will continue but the other faction (read Mulayam) will be responsible if any attempt is made to weaken the coalition through talks, behaviour of any other action depicting differences between the RKP and SP,’’ he said.
