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Opposition unity in U.P. has `national significance'

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI JUNE 8. Opposition parties clamouring for a change of Government in Uttar Pradesh are now planning to take their case to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Frustrated over the lack of response from the State Governor and his seeming reluctance to direct the Chief Minister, Mayawati, to prove her majority on the floor of the House, the Opposition parties have now decided to petition Dr. Kalam.

Leaders of the main Opposition parties who met at Kalyan Singh's residence in Lucknow today to work out the strategy, are said to have decided on parading their strength before the President in order to get him to direct the Governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri, to summon the Assembly.

The pace is expected to pick up after Ms. Mayawati's return from her foreign tour next week. The Opposition parties are keeping a close watch on their MLAs, the prime target being Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal. The RLD chief has been shifting his MLAs from place to place. They were first moved to Bhopal and a week later taken to the salubrious climes of Srinagar to keep them out of reach of attempts to poach on them.

Unlike the previous attempts at bringing down the State Government, this time the Opposition parties are moving cautiously. After all, for years some of the Opposition leaders have been opposed to one another and the attempt first has been to establish mutual trust and then to hammer out a coherent strategy to bring down the Government. Most of the leaders involved in the ongoing exercise insist that this time their unity is there to stay and that it will act as a precursor to the coming together of like-minded parties at the Centre as well.

Mr. Ajit Singh, who quit the Vajpayee Government recently and subsequently pulled out of the Mayawati-led Government, feels that the coming together of the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh will have an impact beyond the State.

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