Mayawati-Kalyan war threatens UP coalition

The ceasefire agreement between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party has been thrown to the winds, and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and her successor Kalyan Singh are virtually exchanging blows again.

Less than 36 hours after Kalyan Singh became chief minister, the BSP leader is firing serious allegations against the BJP leader.

The bone of contention this time is the government order issued on Kalyan Singh's first day in office on Monday. The order, issued by the state's new Home Secretary R R Shah, directs all district magistrates to ''check misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act''.

The order said, ''Stern action would be taken against those who lodge false complaints or abuse the provisions of the Act.''

Fretting and fuming over the order, Mayawati lashed out at the chief minister at a media conference, accusing him of ''displaying his bias against the oppressed dalits''.

Rechristening the new chief minister as ''Kalyan Singh Yadav'', Mayawati said, ''I call him 'Yadav' because there is hardly any difference between him and Mulayam Singh Yadav.'' The order shows his ''true intentions'' -- that he wants the oppression and harassment of dalits to go on.

Stopping short of demanding the order's withdrawal, the BSP leader issued a stern warning to the new chief minister. ''If the real intention is victimise the dalits, we will not tolerate this under any circumstances,'' she said.

She also sarcastically asked Kalyan Singh why he had not thought of using other draconian provisions like the Arms Act, the Goonda Act and the National Security Act against the dalits.

Mayawati, however, declined to state whether this could lead to parting of ways between the coalition partners.

''I have informed my party chief Kanshi Ramji and he would in turn speak to the top BJP leadership, before any further action could be contemplated,'' she pointed out, announcing that she has called a meeting of party leaders on September 26. '''I will ask our party leaders and workers to compile fortnightly reports on dalit atrocities. They would also be asked to prepare a list of officials who do not register genuine cases of dalit oppression.''

The only way he could persist with the order is by issuing similar ones in the case of other acts, under which the dalits suffer most.

Asked why she did not choose to speak to Kalyan Singh directly on the issue, Mayawati retorted, ''When he spoke to me during the day, he did not even give any hint about what he had up his sleeve.''

The BSP leader, however, spoke to Kalyan Singh's Cabinet colleague Kalraj Misra who agreed that the chief minister should have consulted her before taking the decision.

Mayawati declined to comment on Kalyan Singh's decision to visit, along with his BJP ministerial team, the makeshift Ram temple at the disputed Babri mosque site. ''Let them not dream of doing anything beyond the purview of courts on the issue,'' she warned.

On the other hand, senior BJP leaders claimed the visit was part of the party's ritual -- this was done when the previous BJP government was sworn in.

Maintaining his calm, Kalyan Singh later told the media, ''The order intends to prevent the misuse of the act and nothing else. However, if there is any misunderstanding over it, we will talk it out.''

The chief minister and his predecessor, who were present at the Raj Bhavan for the swearing-in of a BSP minister (as a replacement for Barkhu Ram Verma who could not be included due to a constitutional bar), however, preferred not to enter into a straight dialogue on the issue.

Whatever be the outcome, the tussle sends a clear signal: the BSP will keep Kalyan Singh on tenterhooks till his term ends.

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