National

Uneasy Rests The Crown

Naresh Agarwal and a restless BJP cadre may force Kalyan to opt for a mid-term poll

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Uneasy Rests The Crown
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IT was an unusual sight in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on February 26. Two most polite gladiators surveyed the arena—exchanging pleasantries and shaking hands before a cheering crowd (read MLAs) just before the bout. Kalyan Singh rose from his chief ministerial seat in haste as friend-turned-foe Jagdambika Pal—the other claimant of the seat—approached him. "I am really impressed by your manners and behaviour," Kalyan told his bete noire.

In an assembly where just four months ago members fought a bloody battle to capture power, these cordial exchanges looked out of place. In fact, visions of yet another round of missile war were so overpowering that speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi made sure the microphones were removed. For, in an incredible free-for-all on October 21, 1997, when Kalyan sought a vote-of-confidence after BSP's Mayawati withdrew support, the microphones became the most handy missiles.

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Peace prevailed in the House this time but when the Speaker, himself accused of being partisan towards the BJP, announced Kalyan's victory over Opposition candidate Pal by 29 votes in an unprecedented floor test ordered by the Supreme Court, the BJP chief minister's problems seemed far from over.

A gloating Naresh Agarwal of the Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP), who became Kalyan's saviour after ambushing him on February 21, nurtured an inflated ambition. "I am the power and everyone must understand that they cannot do anything by ignoring Naresh Agarwal," he told Outlook.

Besides Agarwal, Kalyan has to deal with a restless BJP cadre. That Kalyan dropped one of his ministers, Raj Rai Singh, after winning the floor test—ostensibly because she wasted the vote by putting a tick mark against Kalyan's name instead of putting her signature—is enough indication of trouble ahead. Fact is Raj Singh had opposed the party's support to Maneka Gandhi in Pilibhit. Some BJP MLAs have even conveyed their resentment to Atal Behari Vajpayee about Kalyan's style of functioning.

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Limping its way to victory on the weak crutches lent by power-hungry allies, the BJP is waiting for the outcome of the general election. The party will chalk out its strategy for UP only after assessing its Lok Sabha performance. Party sources indicate the possibility of an immediate dissolution of the House should the BJP perform well in UP. The buzz in the party circles is that Kalyan should recommend the dissolution of the assembly to get rid of the "ever vacillating" alliance partners. "Nothing is going to happen in the next 15 days at least, until the formation of the government at the Centre," said a BJP office-bearer. This shows that if the BJP gets more than 65 seats from UP, Kalyan might announce a mid-term poll in the state.

But, for the moment, Kalyan cannot afford to get Naresh Agarwal off his back, who will seek more attention and increase his demands in the days to come. After all, Agarwal gifted a victory to Kalyan on a platter by bringing back all 22 LCP MLAs, in overnight manoeuvres played out at Shivgarh resort 30 km from Lucknow where "all frogs were kept", as a local daily reported. MLAs like mafia don Hari Shankar Tiwari, who were with Pal till the previous night, showed up in the treasury benches.

Among the others who pitched in to "save democracy" were Kalyan's latest Man Friday Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya of Kunda, a Lucknow-based contractor and MLC Ajit Singh and Sanjay Singh (one of the accused, now acquitted, in the Syed Modi murder case). Even BJP sympathisers were embarrassed to see Kalyan rubbing shoulders with the "tainted".

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 Speaker Tripathi's conduct also came under criticism as he reserved order on the question of disqualification of the 12 BSP members who supported Kalyan on October 21, 1997, defying the party whip. The delay enabled the defectors to cast their vote in favour of the BJP. The Congress spokesperson Najma Heptullah accused the Speaker of being partisan, who defended his stand with a vague argument that the order would have defied the model code of conduct as one of the affected parties, Mayawati, was contesting the Lok Sabha poll.

NOTWITHSTANDING the alleged manipulations, Kalyan's victory was a foregone conclusion. Pal conceded defeat the previous night. Surrounded by his supporters, most of them from home town Basti, Pal put up a brave face: "Even if I lose tomorrow's vote, I still remain acceptable to both Mulayam and Mayawati." He knew that Naresh Agarwal, who was sworn in as deputy CM in his cabinet on February 21, had lured back almost all his party MLAs.

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But even Kalyan, or more precisely his party colleagues, were not terribly enthused by the victory. They had to depend again on those very unreliable alliance partners led by Agarwal, who had ditched Kalyan, and who were asked to form a government by governor-in-a-hurry Romesh Bhandari. The timing of withdrawal of support was planned to coincide with the second round of polling on February 22.

The timing was crucial for Mulayam Singh Yadav who had a tough battle on his hands against the BJP's D.P. Yadav in Sambhal. Realising that the Kalyan administration would make it practically impossible for him to win the seat, Mulayam threw all his weight behind Pal. And Bhandari chipped in to help a friend in need.

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Once the crucial 12-hour period passed with Pal at the helm, Mulayam lost all interest in him. Four days later, when Pal was left in the lurch by colleagues, Bhandari cooled his heels in the Raj Bhawan amidst rumours of his dismissal. In true Bhandari style, he did not comment on the president's letter to the prime minister suggesting his ouster. But he promptly denied a news item flashed by a news agency about the prime minister urging him to step down. As the Speaker joined the BJP bandwagon to attack the governor on February 27, Bhandari told one of his friends on the telephone: "Mein Punjabi puttar haan, mein ni darda kisetoon vi (I am a Punjabi son of the soil; I'm not afraid of anyone). There is no problem, except for the BJP no other political party has any problem with me." With a fellow Punjabi Inder Kumar Gujral as prime minister and another Punjabi Harkishen Singh Surjeet defending Bhandari, his statement is significant.

Nevertheless, the chief minister decided to draw the maximum political mileage out of the victory by using the occasion to wash off the post-Babri stigma attached with the party—that of political untouchability. He repeatedly emphasised that it was the individuals who joined in the voting and not the parties, implying thereby that he had the support and confidence of individual members cutting across party lines. Kalyan announced to a strong gathering of party workers from a makeshift platform in the state party office: "Aaj sab dalon ki deevaren gir gayi hein. Koi bhi aisa dal nahin hai jisse hamko samarthan na mila ho (The walls dividing parties have crumbled today; we have got the support from members of every political party)."

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 But first, he has to do something to quell the dissatisfaction in the party rank and file. "There is no question of a mid-term poll, my government will complete its full term," says Kalyan. Others are not so sure. "This government will not survive till October, if it does not tumble before that," quips a former BJP minister. Kalyan can't afford to say all's well that ends well just yet.

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