01-22-2009, 04:08 AM
<b>PLAY OF VOTE-BANK POLITICS IN U.P.</b>
<b>Kalyan's bonhomie with SP made congress discomfort</b>
22 Jan 2009, 0118 hrs IST, Manjari Mishra, TNN
LUCKNOW: The proposed pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party is fast turning out to be a knotty affair for UP Congress party. If the unilateral announcements of three successive lists of candidates by SP satraps left their top leadership with bruised egos, Tuesday's handshake between Mulayam and Kalyan Singh - the toast of the hard-core Hindutva forces till about 48 hours ago - has surely given them goosebumps. Shocked Congressmen are desperately trying to figure out the possible fallout of lending support to the "sazayafta mulzim" (convicted accused) in the Babri demolition drama, who they fear would only end up being an albatross around their neck.
<b>Terming the development "utterly juvenile on part of SP", one senior leader said that "the much hyped alliance being finalised in Delhi, under the changed scenario will only prove suicidal." "What face do we have now to go to minority community and ask for their votes," he asked. Any connect - overt or covert with Kalyan, even a political green horn can clearly see is the surest way of wiping out the Muslim base. And the community finally inching towards the Congress camp, once again be forced to retrace its step, he feared.</b>
Recalling how during the last assembly elections even voters in Okhla had voted for Congress candidate despite Amar Singh's populist tactics in the Batla House encounter, including raising a demand for a judicial inquiry, another leader called the friendship with Kalyan surest way offering Mayawati Muslim votes on a platter. They had rejected Mulayam during the 2007 assembly elections and 2009 Parliament poll is our golden chance. Despite the Kalyan factor looming large in the background there is no chance of wooing them back.
"With his son Rajveer catapulted to the post of SP's national general secretary and all that feet-touching drama by Amar Singh before the TV cameras, the message is not lost on anyone. Kalyan's declaration that he did not intend to join SP is of little consequence, for Yadav may forget how the former BJP vice-president called him the promoter of Islamic terrorism in India, but the voters are sure to remember," another concerned leader pointed out .
Despite the fear of high command, specially after the action taken against Satyavrat Chaturvedi, former UPCC unit in charge, for his salvo at Amar Singh, murmurs of discontent is becoming more and more audible. A highly agitated senior leader with sizable minority support said that he had been getting frantic phone calls from supporters to contact unit in charge Digvijay Singh and Motilal Vora and question them about how long the humiliation continue. The suspense is becoming too long and agonising for everyone, he said.
<b>Kalyan's bonhomie with SP made congress discomfort</b>
22 Jan 2009, 0118 hrs IST, Manjari Mishra, TNN
LUCKNOW: The proposed pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party is fast turning out to be a knotty affair for UP Congress party. If the unilateral announcements of three successive lists of candidates by SP satraps left their top leadership with bruised egos, Tuesday's handshake between Mulayam and Kalyan Singh - the toast of the hard-core Hindutva forces till about 48 hours ago - has surely given them goosebumps. Shocked Congressmen are desperately trying to figure out the possible fallout of lending support to the "sazayafta mulzim" (convicted accused) in the Babri demolition drama, who they fear would only end up being an albatross around their neck.
<b>Terming the development "utterly juvenile on part of SP", one senior leader said that "the much hyped alliance being finalised in Delhi, under the changed scenario will only prove suicidal." "What face do we have now to go to minority community and ask for their votes," he asked. Any connect - overt or covert with Kalyan, even a political green horn can clearly see is the surest way of wiping out the Muslim base. And the community finally inching towards the Congress camp, once again be forced to retrace its step, he feared.</b>
Recalling how during the last assembly elections even voters in Okhla had voted for Congress candidate despite Amar Singh's populist tactics in the Batla House encounter, including raising a demand for a judicial inquiry, another leader called the friendship with Kalyan surest way offering Mayawati Muslim votes on a platter. They had rejected Mulayam during the 2007 assembly elections and 2009 Parliament poll is our golden chance. Despite the Kalyan factor looming large in the background there is no chance of wooing them back.
"With his son Rajveer catapulted to the post of SP's national general secretary and all that feet-touching drama by Amar Singh before the TV cameras, the message is not lost on anyone. Kalyan's declaration that he did not intend to join SP is of little consequence, for Yadav may forget how the former BJP vice-president called him the promoter of Islamic terrorism in India, but the voters are sure to remember," another concerned leader pointed out .
Despite the fear of high command, specially after the action taken against Satyavrat Chaturvedi, former UPCC unit in charge, for his salvo at Amar Singh, murmurs of discontent is becoming more and more audible. A highly agitated senior leader with sizable minority support said that he had been getting frantic phone calls from supporters to contact unit in charge Digvijay Singh and Motilal Vora and question them about how long the humiliation continue. The suspense is becoming too long and agonising for everyone, he said.