India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Samajwadi Party cosies up to the Congress

	May 19, 2008

With a chill creeping into ties between the Samajwadi Party and the CPI(M), Mulayam Singh Yadav’s outfit has begun cosying up to the Congress.



Days after the Supreme Court scrapped as unconstitutional the amendment to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act, the Samajwadi Party accused the Left of bulldozing that Bill through in the same manner as the Women’s Reservation Bill SP general secretary Amar Singh, who was the chairman of the Parlia¬mentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, said normally a Bill is referred to the Standing Committee, but the AIIMS bill was not. He said the Left parties, the DMK and the Congress all supported the sacking of AIIMS director Venugopal through that Bill even though he had reservations on the issue. Hitting back at the Samajwadi Party, CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha Basudev Acharaya said that the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha and adopted there first. He said the Samajwadi party should have demanded that the Bill be referred to the Standing Committee in the Lok Sabha itself.



In another sign of improved relations between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav called state Chief Minister Mayawati as “most ungrateful” for turning against the Congress now. He said that Mayawati had become Chief Minister only because of what he called the “charity” of the Congress-led UPA Government.



Mulayam Singh Yadav said Mayawati should have no illusions about her stature in politics and she was nothing in comparison with Indira Gandhi.



In another straw in the wind, Amar Singh’s close friend Amitabh Bachchan has extended his best wishes to Rahul Gandhi in his future ventures. Asked in a TV interview about Rahul Gand¬hi’s prime-ministerial potential, Bachchan refused to compare him with his father, Rajiv Gandhi, merely saying, “I do wish him all the best in his future ventures.”



Significantly, Bachchan said that in the event of a Con¬gress-Samajwadi Party rapprochement, the party would have his best wishes.



Earlier, taking a different line from that of the Left on the nuclear deal, the Samajwadi Party had said on May 10 that it is ready to hold talks with the Government on the India-US nu¬clear deal. Amar Singh had said after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that if the Government invited them for talks, the party would be willing to hear the Government’s view point.





Mulayam Singh to expose Mayawati



Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has criticised the raids by the Uttar Police on the Kolkata residence of party general secretary Amar Singh. Speaking in Lucknow on May 13, he threatened to expose what he called, “the misdeeds” of Chief Min¬ister Mayawati. A CD was distributed at the press briefing to reinforce the charge that the raid was carried out because of political vendetta and to harass Amar Singh.





Congress releases chargesheet against Mayawati Govt



While Mayawati celebrated completion of one year as Chief Minister in her latest stint with announcement of several new development schemes, the Uttar Pradesh Congress released a char¬gesheet on what it calls, “One year of failures and autocratic rule of Mayawati Govt.”



The Congress charge-sheet, in the form of a booklet, “Ek saal mein badhal pradesh bana Uttar Pradesh” (The deplorable state of Uttar Pradesh) was released on the eve of Chief Minister Mayawati completing one year in office on Tuesday, May 13.



PCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said the Mayawati Govern¬ment had displayed a marked insensitivity towards the people in the last one year of its rule. She accused the Chief Minister of pursuing caste-based politics.



Referring to the state of the Dalits, the charge-sheet said there had been a significant increase in the cases of atrocities against Dalits in the one-year rule of a “Dalit Chief Minister”.



The charge-sheet lauded Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to establish a dialogue with Dalits and asked the Chief Minister how many Dalit households were visited by her in the last one year.



In a related development Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on a visit to his Amethi constituency, criticised the Mayawati Government for what he called the poor implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.





No relief for Mayawati in disproportionate assets case



The Supreme Court has refused to restrain the CBI from proceeding with filing of a chargesheet against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in a disproportionate assets case. The court, however, issued notices to the Centre and the CBI on Mayawati’s petition alleging that the UPA Government was harass¬ing her for political purposes.



“We are not passing any interim order,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said and issued notices for July 14 to the Centre and the CBI after hearing the counsel for the two sides who traded charges against each other.



Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Mayawati, al¬leged that the entire inquiry was illegal against the Chief Minister and the case was foisted against her for political reasons. Vahanvati contended that the case was registered against her as per the apex court direction and Mayawati had made repre¬sentations at all levels, including the Prime Minister against the case as she was scared of the outcome of the investigation.



However, Salve shot back saying “the Centre was scared in view of the 2009 general elections”.



Vahanvati said, “I am scared of the declining standard in public life”.CBI had registered the FIR against Mayawati on October 5, 2003, after the apex court had ordered the agency to investigate the Rs.175 crore Taj Heritage Corridor Scam.