The devastating loss in the Firozabad Lok Sabha by-election appears to have led the Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh to belatedly realise that Kalyan Singh factor is having a debilitating affect on the party’s fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr.Singh reiterated here on Saturday that the former Bharatiya Janata Party strongman was not a member of the SP and neither would he ever be inducted into the party.
The SP president had fielded his daughter-in-law, Dimple Yadav in Firozabad in the hope that the caste factor would benefit the party and the Lok Sabha seat will remain in the family. However, neither were the OBCs mobilized to the party’s cause, nor did the Muslims prefer to vote against the Congress’ Raj Babbar.
Simultaneously, Mr. Singh trained guns on the Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi who had campaigned in Firozabad, albeit without naming him. Mr. Mulayam Singh said though he had great respect for former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi but when a leader of her stature was unable to write the demise of the Samajwadis, what could this person do.
Obviously referring to Mr. Kalyan Singh’s role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the SP chief indicated that the former’s induction in the party would further harm its cause, now that he is trying to regain lost ground after the loss in the U.P. by-polls. “You know why he will not be taken in the SP”, Mr. Mulayam Singh remarked.
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Sunday gave an agitation call against the U.P. and Central Government in protest against the price rise on November 16. “Mr. Kalyan Singh will not participate in the demonstration but what can I do if he came on his own and start raising Mulayam Singh ‘zindabad’ slogans,” the SP president said. On the former BJP leader’s presence in the SP’s national convention in Agra, Mr. Mulayam Singh said he could not have said no to him.
The SP chief, however, sought to pin the blame on the Congress for the Firozabad loss when he alleged that crores of rupees were spent by the party just to ensure the “defeat of Mulayam Singh.” In Bhartana (the seat had been vacated by Mr. Singh) too, Congress plotted the downfall of the SP when it fielded a former Samajwadi MLA, who created a dent in the traditional vote of the SP, he added.
The SP president though said he had accepted defeat in the by-elections and now the causes were being reviewed at the party level. He alleged that the Assembly bye-polls were manipulated by the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party.
He sought to remind the Congress that the Samajwadi Party had saved the UPA Government in the trust vote on the issue of Indo-US nuke deal, and the fact that the SP had not fielded its candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi in the Lok Sabha elections in May 2009.
Evading reply on the question of the SP withdrawing support to the UPA Government, the former Chief Minister said his were differences based on ideology. Support was given to the UPA Government to prevent the BJP from coming to power.
