'Congress Has Made Overtures To Us'

Now amidst speculation about the SP, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Congress contesting the elections together in UP, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav revealed his quandary to Outlook. "Some state-level Congress leaders have made overtures to us, as the Congress stands to lose the most because of the rise of the BSP, which has cut into its Dalit votes." Does it mean he's thinking of an arrangement with the Congress? "Well, the UNPA (United National Progressive Alliance) was created to fight both the Congress and the BJP. It is all of us in the UNPA—(Om Prakash) Chautala, (Babulal) Marandi, (Chandrababu) Naidu and I who are genuine representatives of the kisans, not the Congress." So, is he ruling out any arrangement with the Congress? "No. I will have to sit down with the other UNPA leaders and discuss the matter before taking a final view."

Clearly, Mulayam Singh is in a spot. In 2004, he did remarkably well in the Lok Sabha polls but his 39 seats, of which 37 came from UP, got him nowhere. Again, in 2007, despite the fact that all political parties fought unitedly to oust him from power, and Mayawati won a landslide victory, he actually increased his vote percentage from 25 to 26 per cent. He will probably do well again in UP, but his fear is that Mayawati may do even better—and the only way he can reduce her seats is by making common cause with the Congress and the RLD.

A senior SP leader—who is in touch with the Congress—told Outlook, "An SP- Congress-RLD tie-up makes for good electoral arithmetic. It could checkmate the BSP. And since the SP can never have a tie-up with the BJP, what's wrong with the Congress? It's we who will get the lion's share." Another senior SP leader cited a different reason: "Mayawati is losing some ground in east UP; the BJP seems to be the gainer. We need to stop that." Added a Congress minister, "This combination would be ideal. If we can pull off such an arrangement, then we'd have a cushion of 40-odd seats from UP. It would ensure the Left doesn't stray too far."

For the moment, Mulayam is busy with his UNPA rallies across the country. "At our Azamgarh rally on March 16 we'll focus on the need for remunerative crop prices and the fact that this budget creates bhed-bhav (differences) among farmers," he says. "How can a small and marginal farmer be defined uniformly across the country? Can you compare a farmer in Bundelkhand with one in the rest of UP?"