SP plans 'seat adjustments' with Congress in Maharashtra
Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay
The Samajwadi Party has toned down its anti-Congress stance.
The party is now willing to go in for seat adjustments with any secular party in its bid to defeat the communal Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra.
Party state general secretary Hussain Dalwai told Rediff On The NeT, "We plan to ensure one-to-one contests of all the secular parties with the BJP-Shiv Sena, and are ready for seat adjustments with the Congress."
Asked about SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's categorical statement last week, ruling out any alliance with the Congress, he said, "As of now, we do not want any alliance with the Congress. But if the Congress supports our candidate in the legislative council election on December 29, we will think of seat adjustments.
"The council election will be a litmus test for the proposed SP-Congress ties," added Dalwai who is contesting the poll.
Pledging the Congress's support to Dalwai, former Congress MP Gurudas Kamat, who is considered close to former Union minister Sharad Pawar, said, "I hope this gesture will help in bringing about some seat adjustments with the SP for the Lok Sabha election."
Three candidates -- two of the BJP-Sena and one of the Congress-SP --are in the fray for three council seats in Bombay. State Education Minister Sudhir Joshi and Kanhaiyalal Gidwani are the ruling combine's candidates while the Congress-SP have jointly put up Dalwai.
Last week, Pawar had a meeting with Yadav and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh.
''The talks failed,'' said SP's Bombay unit chief Abu Asim Hashmi who was present at the meeting. "I hope we can reconsider the decision when we meet with senior state Congress leaders next week."
Congress sources confirmed that another round of talks will be held soon. ''Yadav will meet Pawar either in New Delhi or Bombay to discuss the future plan of action,'' they told told Rediff On The NeT.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni is equally optimistic. "We want to defeat the BJP-Sena at any cost."
Kamat, however, made it clear that the seat adjustment does not mean that the Congress will campaign for the SP candidates. "Our workers will stay away and will not be involved in any kind of campaign with the SP."
Commenting on the SP's shifting stand, a senior Congress leader said that Yadav has whittled down his opposition as he has realised his party cannot win a single seat on its own in the state. ''They have no other option but to go in for seat adjustments with the Congress.''
The Congress is in an equally bad shape, having won only 15 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 1996 Lok Sabha election.
Voting patterns, however, show that the BJP-Sena combine won by a slim margin of 3.5 per cent as the secular vote was divided -- the Third Front comprising the SP, the Janata Dal, the Republican Party of India, the Communist Party of India and the Bharatiya Kamgar Aghadi fielded candidates contested against the Congress's.
The Congress secured 34 per cent of the votes as against the BJP-Sena combine's 38.5 per cent. The SP contested six seats and bagged 22 per cent of the votes while the third front 12.77 per cent.
As for the forthcoming election, a major constituent of the third front, the RPI has already tied up with the Congress even as the SP maintains that it will contest 10 seats in the state.
The SP's confidence stems from its growing support base in Bombay, where a large section of Muslims and north Indians have been supporting the party.
So strong has the SP's hold been that the Muslim League, hitherto known for its strong presence in the minority areas, has been completely wiped out. All the ML councillors and MLAs have abandoned their parent party and joined the SP.
"Everyone knows that Muslims in Maharashtra are with the SP. And that is why we are considering seat adjustments with the Congress to defeat the communal forces," said Dalwai.
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