Mulayam wooing BSP MLAs

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is trying to engineer a split in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party in order to fulfill his cherished dream of heading an SP-Congress government in the state.

According to SP leader K C Tyagi, who is the party's general secretary, Yadav will explore all possibilities which enhances the prospects of an SP-Congress government in Uttar Pradesh.

Asked what exactly he meant by this, Tyagi contended that the party chief is currently examining all vistas which would strengthen the chances of the perceived SP-Congress government headed by Yadav himself. He did not elaborate.

However, the combined electoral arithmetic of the SP and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is insufficient for the purpose. The SP has a strength of 105 seats and the Congress has 33. Even if the combined total of the United Front in the state were taken, Yadav would have at his disposal 134 seats. If the 33 Congress seats were added to the figure, it would still comes to 167 which is inadequate because for a simple majority to form a government, 211 seats are required in a house of 425.

Hence the SP chief will also have to look elsewhere in order to fulfill his objective of an SP-Congress government.

Tyagi's contention about the SP chief exploring various avenues for the objective of forming the proposed government in UP has indicated that he is trying to woo MLAs of the BSP unit in the state who are said to be sympathetic to his cause.

This was confirmed by a senior UF leader who, requesting anonymity, said Yadav is looking towards "other quarters" for achieving the requisite strength in the state assembly.

Significantly, Yadav is understood to have recently told Congress President Sitaram Kesri that since the SP-Congress combine strength in the state assembly would be insufficient for forming a government, he had set his sight on the UP unit of the BSP to wean away MLAs.

The BSP in the state has 65 MLAs. Of these, 12 are Muslims and about 29 belong to backward communities. Since Yadav himself is from the backward community and is widely known as the 'guardian angel' of Muslims who comprise a sizeable segment of the vote base in UP, the SP chief is trying to woo them away from Kanshi Ram's party.

If Yadav manages to wean away the backward and Muslim MLAs from the BSP, he would only need a few more independent members to muster the magical figure of 211 and head an SP-Congress government.

It was after being appraised of Mulayam Singh Yadav's strategy that Congress Parliamentary Party leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar came out in favour of an SP-Congress government in the state.

Pawar is in constant touch with Kesri on the development and the AICC and is considering what Mulayam Singh Yadav has to say about Uttar Pradesh. Various avenues are being explored.

It is understood that even though BSP chief Kanshi Ram has only 65 MLAs in the state, he is unwilling to play second fiddle to any other party including the SP.

Kanshi Ram, despite his party's electoral insufficiency, hopes to have his party colleague Mayawati installed as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's efforts to woo backward MLAs from the BJP received a setback because senior BJP leader Kalyan Singh agreed to such an arrangement on the condition that he would be the chief minister himself.

Thereafter, Mulayam Singh is said to be concentrating on the BSP to get the requisite electoral support. Much, however, would depend upon the role of state Governor Romesh Bhandari who has already said that he is in favour of a secular government.