CPI angry at Mulayam Singh's 'slight'

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Communist Party of India's Uttar Pradesh unit has urged its national leadership not to stomach the 'insult' which the United Front dished out by ignoring to invite the party for the Allahabad rally.

The Samajwadi Party-sponsored rally on Thursday next, March 20, is being organised to repair the damages emanating from the controversial Romesh Bhandari affair.

Samajwadi chief and Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, incensed by Communist leader and Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta's statement that UP is heading towards 'chaos, anarchy and destruction', pointedly did not invite any CPI leaders to the rally. By raking up the issue in Parliament, Gupta, Mulayam Singh believes, gave the Bharatiya Janata Party the chance it was waiting for to initiate discussions about UP Governor Bhandari's recall.

''Nobody, not even the prime minister, can take our party for granted," bristled senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta. He added that there was no question of the party participating in the rally ''unless categorically asked to do so by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda."

The home minister, on his part, refused to comment on the matter.

'The relation between Indrajit Gupta and Mulayam Singh, sources say, remains as strained as ever. In fact, at a recent meeting between the two, Gupta is reported to have told the Samajwadi chief he (Gupta) would not allow 'undemocratic affairs' to continue either in UP or at the Centre.