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UF collapses: Laloo, Mulayam form new front

The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal today announced the formation of the Rastriya Loktantrik Morcha to give a push to the ongoing efforts by the secular parties to form an alternative government at the Centre.

The formation of the front has become necessary as the United Front has lost its relevance since some of its constituents are in league with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samata Party and the Akali Dal for the sake of electoral gains, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav announced at a hurriedly convened joint press conference in New Delhi.

"Whenever the Congress decides to form an alternative government, we are there to support. You can make your own assessment about the kind of relations that the newly formed Morcha will have with that party," Mulayam Singh, the front's convener said.

Replying to questions, the Samajwadi Party leader said the Left parties have always been with them on several issues, including the fight against the BJP. "We are hopeful that they would support the Morcha," both the leaders said, adding that they were holding talks with Left parties.

Both leaders said the Samajwadi Party and the RJD were in the United Front with a view to check the rise of communal forces. "But to our surprise we found parties with conflicting ideologies and some of whom had no qualms about compromising with communal forces, were part of the front," they added.

On the Janata Dal's role, Mulayam Singh said they did not consider the party a cohesive force and some of its top leaders owed their existence to the support extended to them by the BJP and its allies like the Samata Party and the Akali Dal.

The two Yadavs, relations between whom remained strained till recently, said they have realised that their differences would only help the growth of the BJP in the Hindi heartland of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. "History will not forgive us if we still remain divided, especially when the BJP has assumed power at the Centre," Laloo Yadav said.

Mulayam Singh said the Gujral government's crucial decision to allow the Kalyan Singh government to continue in Uttar Pradesh even after withdrawal of support by the Bahujan Samaj Party was a blunder which eventually led to the formation of the BJP government at the Centre.

The UF had initially decided to clamp President's rule in the state, but backtracked when President K R Narayanan returned the Union Cabinet's recommendation for reconsideration.

Mulayam Singh said the Vajpayee government's policies had endangered national security and isolated the country in the international arena. The ruling party was busy all the time in appeasing its allies, rather than governing the country, he said and added that the economy was in a bad shape and the value of rupee against the US dollar has touched an all-time low. The country faced the prospect of bankruptcy, they said.

UNI

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