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Thaw in Congress-BSP relations : Sonia, Mayawati meeting does the trick

	February 25, 2008

An unpublicised meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Feb. 17 has led to a pause in the bitter war of words between their parties though it cannot be stated to have averted completely the prospect of their running into conflict in the future. The meeting, which took place when Mayawati called on Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence, was apparently not known to even senior Congress leaders. Its immediate impact, however, came to be known the next day when the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put before him her demands for an out of the way development package for the state.



Reports say that Dr. Manmohan Singh gave what observers called unusually positive signals to Mayawati, assuring her that her various demands would be given serious consideration. He said the Centre would take all necessary steps to promote the development of the state and the welfare of its people. The Prime Minister said that he had constituted a special group under the chairmanship of Planning Commission Member B.K. Chaturvedi to prepare a road map for Uttar Pradesh’s rapid economic develop¬ment. He also assured Mayawati that a special plan for the development of the backward Bundelkhand region would be prepared with the help of the Planning Commission. He said the energy and connectivity needs of Uttar Pradesh would be met.





Courtesy call or political meeting ?



Political analysts differ on whether Mayawati calling on Sonia Gandhi was just a courtesy call to enquire about the Con¬gress president’s health, or a political meeting intended to mend fences between their parties. Some people in the Congress party chose to make light of Mayawati’s meeting with Sonia Gand¬hi, saying it was a courtesy call to enquire about Sonia Gandhi’s health as the BSP chief could not visit her earlier when she had been ailing and was admitted to hospital.



Highly placed sources, however, said that it was a political meeting between the two leaders lasting for about one and a half hours, which was also attended by Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secre¬tary Ahmed Patel. Reports say that the two top leaders of the Congress and the BSP discussed the recent bitterness in relations between their parties.



The uneasy relations between the BSP and the Congress had in the last few months turned bitter and hit a new low when Mayawati accused the Congress of allegedly conspiring to eliminate her. Mayawati had also threatened to withdraw BSP support to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre if her demands were not met.



Observers say that while the Congress would like to continue having BSP support from outside, the party is uncomfortable with Mayawati’s rising aspirations aimed at capturing power at the Centre, as evident in her forays in several states outside Uttar Pradesh.



Reports say that Mayawati told Sonia Gandhi that there was nothing personal in her campaigns in Congress strongholds outside Uttar Pradesh and it was legitimate political activity to strengthen the BSP and could not be construed as an unfriendly act.





Pull out threat recedes



Following her meetings with Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mayawati hinted in New Delhi on Feb. 18 that her party, the BSP, was not going to withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA at least for now.



“Earlier, we thought about withdrawing support to the UPA government. But my party suggested that no decision should be taken before my meeting with the Prime Minister. I attended the meeting on the directive of my party”, Mayawati said.



She said the meeting took place in a congenial atmosphere and that issues were discussed with “seriousness.” Mayawati added that the result of her talks with the Prime Minister was “fruitful.”



Apart from the political agenda, Mayawati had brought with her a list of pre-budget demands.



She sought an early sanction of the Taj International Air¬port Project to come up in Greater Noida, a special package of Rs. 80,000 crore to develop the backward regions of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal and the immediate release of Rs. 9,000 crore which had been promised as central assistance for different schemes run by the state government.





Congress to continue scrutiny of Uttar Pradesh Govt. actions



While the Congress and the BSP may not be at each other’s throats now, the Congress says that it will continue to play the role of a constructive opposition in Uttar Pradesh. Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said in New Delhi on Feb. 20 that there would be no let up in the party’s “hisab do” (render account) campaign in the state. He said the Congress will continue to look at the acts of omission and commission of the Uttar Pradesh Government. The Congress said that by “hisab mango” (ask for account), the party also meant Mayawati’s personal wealth and agreed with BJP’s character¬isation of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister as a feudal lord. Digvijay Singh said the package of Rs. 2,80,000 crore given to Uttar Pradesh under the 11th Plan, a three-and-a-half times increase over the previous Plan, disproves Mayawati’s charge that the Centre had not been giving enough funds to Uttar Pradesh.



On being asked about the BJP’s characterisation of the BSP chief as “feudal lord”, Singh said, the way she is acting or behaving, “it smacks of and reminds us of old feudal times, her programmes have not reflected any pro-poor and pro-dalit po¬licies.”



A full session of the Pradesh Congress Committee will be held in Kanpur on March 28 and 29 to mobilise party delegates on channelising the anger of the common people against Mayawati’s misrule, Digvijay Singh said. It will be followed by a public rally.



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UPA to be in minority in Rajya Sabha



One reason, observers say, for Sonia Gandhi being extra nice to Mayawati, is that the Congress-led UPA Government is faced with the prospect of being reduced to a minority in the Rajya Sabha in April this year when 59 members are retiring. Because of Congress reverses in recent Assembly elections, the UPA will no longer be in a majority when elections to fill up the vacancies take place.



In place of 19 members of the Rajya Sabha belonging to the UPA, who would be retiring, the alliance can hope to have only 15 people elected in the biennial elections. While it may not affect the functioning or survival of the Manmohan Singh Gov¬ernment, it puts a question mark on the Government’s ability to push through key legislation, especially contentious ones like the Communal Violence Bill. The BSP’s support could be crucial for such legislation.



As it is, the UPA, the Left, Independent supporters and nominated members with leanings for the ruling combine together account for 118 in a 245-member House. These include NCP-backed Independents P.C. Alexander and Rahul Bajaj - although they were supported by the BJP too - and Congress-backed Independents Arjun Sengupta and Vijay Mallya. Five members were nominated by the UPA government.



With the Samajwadi Party’s 16 members supporting the Govern¬ment till mid-February 2007, the UPA Government had a comfort¬able majority of 134 in the Rajya Sabha. After the SP’s withdraw¬al, the BSP with seven members in the Rajya Sabha - including one BSP-backed Independent - gave a majority to the Government, albeit with a reduced margin.



Going by the present strength of UPA and allies in Assem¬blies and not factoring cross-voting, the ruling combine looks set to lose four seats in the Rajya Sabha in April. That will bring down the total strength of the ruling combine in the Rajya Sabha from 118 to 114. Including the BSP’s seven members, the total strength comes to about 120 only, short of a majority.



Congress sources said even the NDA was in a minority in the Rajya Sabha when it was in power. But what it meant to the NDA was evident when the then Opposition Congress had brought a censure motion in May 2002 on the Gujarat developments. While the NDA defeated the motion in the Lok Sabha, it had to support it in the Rajya Sabha to avoid embarrassment.



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Mayawati for ST status for Gujjars



On her part, Mayawati continues her campaign to approach more segments of the population. At a rally in Jaipur on Feb. 17, to win support of all communities in Rajasthan, she extended support to the Gujjar community’s demand for scheduled tribe status. At the same time, she sought to pacify the Meena communi¬ty by saying that Gujjars would not be allowed to cut into their quota. She also promised Brahmins and Rajputs reservation based on socio-economic criteria.





Congress goes all out to woo farmers



With general elections approaching in about a year, the Congress is going all out to woo the farmers. Ahead of the Budget, which is expected to come out with major steps to benefit farmers, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met farmers’ representatives from Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan in New Delhi on Feb. 21.



Congress leaders who attended Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with farmers’ representatives at 10 Janpath, later said that she had given the assurance that she would talk to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister about the farmers’ concerns. The Congress president has already conveyed her message to the Government that the budget should be aimed at benefiting the common man and women and farmers in particular.



Farmers’ representatives mainly comprising senior Congress leaders from the respective states said that farmers’ problems stem from the burden of debt, the high cost of inputs, crop losses on account of natural calamities and spurious pesticides. They demanded loan waivers, reduction in rate of interest on farm loans and remunerative prices for agricultural produce.





Sonia Gandhi, during her visit to Rae Bareli on Feb. 20, indicated that the Union Budget would address the needs of the common man, particularly those of women and farmers. Addressing a function at the Feroze Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, she pointed to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who was present there, and said that she was hopeful that he will keep the common man’s difficulties in mind while preparing the budget.





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Making party spokespersons media savvy, the Congress way



The Congress organised a two-day training and orientation programme in New Delhi on Feb. 23 and 24 to ensure better “mar¬keting” of the party and to make the spokespersons media savvy ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. Reports say that the hundred odd Congress spokespersons, who attended the training programme, raised issues such as how to tackle media questions on price rise, the India-US nuclear deal, the Sethusamudaram project and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.



The closed-door proceedings were videotaped and will be scrutinised in the Committee on Future Challenges that has Rahul Gandhi as a member, sources said.



Even before Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia finished talking about “UPA government and inclusive economic growth”, he was bombarded with questions, “Why is there an increase in the prices of essential commodities when the economy is growing at nine percent.”



Jyotiraditya Scindia, who defended the nuclear deal, an¬swered several questions from delegates of Left-ruled stats of West Bengal and Kerala on how to put across their point of view effectively in their states.



AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi gave a talk on Sethusamu¬daram and the BJP’s “double-speak” on internal security and terrorism. “We are being taught about substance, style and delivery mechanism - how to make eye contact, how to dress and the body language,” a delegate from Haryana said. Such an exer¬cise was last held in 2004.





Natwar Singh quits Rajya Sabha, Congress



Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh resigned from the Rajya Sabha as well as the Congress on Feb. 21. He met Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari and later sent his resignation let¬ter.



The septuagenarian leader said he had resigned from the primary membership of the Congress and a letter to this effect was sent to party president Sonia Gandhi.



Natwar Singh, once a close associate of Sonia Gandhi, turned a bitter critic of the party leadership when the Iraqi-oil-for- food scam surfaced and resulted in his suspension from the party in 2006.



The Congress said that it was ‘unfortunate’ that Natwar Singh should use the BJP platform to announce his resignation from the party. Singh had announced the decision to quit the Congress at a BJP-sponsored rally near Jaipur a week ago.



AICC media department chairman Veerrappa Moily said : “He has not gone gratefully. He enjoyed every kind of power as a Minister and in the Congress, but he just wanted to harm the party. Those who were talking about secularism against the BJP have landed in their net. The fact that he participated in a BJP rally shows that he has made up his mind to join the BJP and has been accepted. He is fit to be there.”