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Ajit Singh, Sonia discuss electoral tieup

The revived Lok Dal headed by Ajit Singh is understood to have begun talks with the Congress for a possible electoral understanding for next month's assembly election in Delhi and Rajasthan.

According to Lok Dal sources, the party chief held an hour-long meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi two days ago.

During the meeting, the two leaders are understood to have discussed the current political scenario, mainly in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other Hindi belt states.

Lok Dal spokesman Dhirendra Pratap, who is a close associate of Ajit Singh, today confirmed having held such a meeting but refused to divulge details.

The meeting assumes significance as Ajit Singh, soon after reviving the Lok Dal founded by his father the late Charan Singh on Thursday, did not rule out the possibility of his party trying to have a truck with the Congress and other secular parties to dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.

Ajit Singh had merged his Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal in the Lok Dal headed by Durgesh Baghel to revive the erstwhile Lok Dal.

In another significant development, Singh, who still commands a strong clout among Jats, made it clear yesterday that he was not averse to joining hands with Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav to dethrone what he described as ''misrule'' by the BJP-led government.

Dhirendra Pratap said Ajit Singh hinted as much at a public meeting at Saharanpur yesterday.

During his meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Singh is understood to have discussed the forthcoming assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan.

Though the exact outcome of the meeting, held at 10 Janpath, was not known, Lok Dal sources said the meeting was successful from the point of view of evolving a strategy to weaken ''communal forces''.

UNI

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