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Defiant Kalyan intensifies tirade against Vajpayee

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

In a vicious attack on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh today openly accused him of encouraging sycophancy and hero worship in the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"It was such hero worship and sycophancy that spelt doom for the Congress. Yet the same culture is now being encouraged in the BJP by none other than Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee," he said.

A visibly angry Singh said, "Perhaps this is because Vajpayee has achieved the ultimate in life and has no further political stakes. So it is immaterial to him if his actions lead the party to destruction."

Singh was speaking to reporters on his return from New Delhi where he attended the wedding reception of one-time arch adversary Mulayam Singh Yadav's son.

But while the suspended BJP politician appeared to be in the mood for an all-out war against his estranged colleagues, there did not appear to be much support for him in Lucknow.

Not a single BJP member of the state legislative assembly stuck his neck out and went to the airport to receive Singh. Barring 100-odd supporters, including the controversial former municipal councillor Kusum Rai and a lone member of the legislative council, Vir Sen Saroha, there was none worth the name to receive him. The only other leader of some consequence was former local MLA Ram Kumar Shukla who recently formed a 'Kalyan Singh Fans Association'. And the reception was marred by utter chaos caused by the unruly crowd brought by the likes of Rai.

Clearly, the one-time party stalwart had been isolated within the organisation. A former associate who is now a minister in Uttar Pradesh remarked that Singh had "lost his touch". Yet, in reply to a question, Kalyan Singh shot back: "I am not isolated; the people are with me."

Claiming that he was still to receive any official communication about his suspension, he warned, "I wish to make it loud and clear that whatever is being done by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee is not right." But he refused to open his cards about his future plans. "Very soon I will have lots to tell you; wait for some time," he said when asked what his next move would be.

Singh squarely accused the prime minister of hatching a conspiracy against him. "That was something that had been cooking for some time and was reflected in the primeminister's repeated bid to erode my authority as chief minister," he said.

When a reporter drew his attention to Vajpayee's offer of a berth in the central Cabinet, the sarcastic Singh asked: "When the man could not tolerate me in Lucknow, where he continued to conspire against me to undermine my authority, how could I be acceptable to him in Delhi?"

On being reminded of the prime minister's statement in Lucknow on Thursday that he was inclined to use Kalyan Singh's long experience and potential, the belligerent politician shot back,"Some people are double-faced."

Singh made no secret of his anger that all three state politicians who had fomented rebellion against him had been rewarded, one at the Centre (Rajnath Singh) and the others in Lucknow (Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon), while he alone was being punished.

In yet another scathing attack on the prime minister, whom he repeatedly referred to sarcastically as the "highest command", Singh said, "While I sacrificed the chief minister's chair for the sake of the Ayodhya temple, Atal Bihari Vajpayee chose to abandon the temple issue to save his chair."

He claimed that Vajpayee would not rest until he had had Singh expelled. Giving out copies of an eleven-stanza poem he had composed, Singh added, "This poem will give you answers to all your queries about my future plans."

Singh also declared that he would be visiting Ayodhya on December 6, the seventh anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. But he did not reveal what he would do there on that day.

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