Samajwadi Party favours a third front

Stepping up its rhetoric against Congress ahead of the Assembly polls next year, Samajwadi Party accused it on Saturday of acting with a 'revengeful' attitude. It declared that it would maintain equidistance from both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, while working for a third front for the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"There cannot be any ideological understanding with Congress, whose history is steeped in corruption. It is a party that has used minorities for vote bank politics. SP will keep equidistance from both Congress and BJP," SP general secretary Amar Singh told reporters about the deliberations on the opening day of the two-day national executive of his party.

He said the meeting, chaired by party supremo and UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, discussed threadbare the political and economic resolutions and deliberated on the foreign policy of the United Progressive Alliance government, which SP supports from outside.

Singh said SP strongly favoured a third front, comprising all socialist leaders to take on both Congress and BJP. He explained that it supported the Congress-led UPA from outside to keep BJP out of power and the Congress reciprocated the gesture in UP.

The recent meeting between Yadav and George Fernandes, who is feeling isolated in the Janata Dal (United), is viewed in the context of formation of the third front as Fernandes has openly declared his support for SP in the UP polls.

Yadav has also called upon leaders believing in socialist ideology to join hands and come together on a single platform.

Asked whether SP would go it alone in the UP polls, Singh evaded a direct reply saying everything will be done in the spirit of giving and taking support.

To a question, Singh ruled out any truck with BJP, saying it was not possible till the time the saffron party espoused the Ayodhya issue, uniform civil code and Article 370.

The SP leader also lashed out at the Bahujan Samaj Party, charging it with not showing any respect to democratic values and said BSP had hobnobbed with communal forces for the sake of power.

Referring to the country's internal security scenario, Singh described the situation as 'dangerous' and cited instances of recent terrorist attacks in different places.

SP, however, has declared its 'full support' to the government in its fight against terror, he said. Singh said it would be wrong to brand the entire Muslim community and target it with the help of various anti-terror laws.

The party also expressed concern over the ongoing agitations for statehood and questioned the Congress policy. On the economic front, it attacked the Centre for the 'poor state of affairs' and expressed anguish over the rise in prices of essential commodities.

It said that because of 'wrong' policies of the government, farmers were suffering badly and were driven to suicide in many states.

The party also expressed concern over rise in unemployment and attacked the government for its 'hollow slogan' of 'garibi hatao' (remove poverty) and urged people to launch an agitation against such 'bogus claims'.

In its resolution on foreign policy, the SP once again trained its guns at the Congress-led UPA, accusing it of 'blindly toeing the US line' as a result of which India was gradually acquiring a pro-America image.

It said India has been losing support from other nations and felt that those countries that were earlier supporting India were slowly distancing themselves from New Delhi.

"It shows that India is getting isolated in the comity of nations," it said, adding that New Delhi had failed to get Islamabad isolated on the issue of terrorism.

Referring to the Indo-US nuclear deal, the SP said it was oppposed to New Delhi yielding to pressure from Washington and warned that the US would use the pretext of supplying uranium to arm-twist India to act as per its whims and fancies.

It also condemned the US for largescale supply of weapons to Pakistan, including F-16 fighter planes and said it showed Washington was interested in promoting arms race in South Asian region, thereby creating more bitterness between India and Pakistan.

With next year's UP Assembly elections in mind, the SP sought to wean away Dalits from the BSP fold by sending a message that Mayawati's party was trying to 'use' the strength of the downtrodden sections of the society for its own gains and said that the poor have recognised BSP's 'bluff'.

The SP took the opportunity to tell Dalits that in the post-Kanshiram period, they had no choice but to support Samajwadi Party, which alone is their well wisher.

Through the political resolution, SP urged people to ensure its resounding victory in the elections so that it comes to power again in Uttar Pradesh so that 'communal' and 'opportunist" parties like BJP and BSP are 'dumped in the dustbin of politics' forever.

Singh claimed that the law and order sitution in Uttar Pradesh was much better than that in Delhi and financially UP was very sound as it had succeeded in presenting a surplus budget this time.

He cited a number of welfare schemes for the poor, especially women and children.

He rubbished Congress charges that central allocations were lying unused in the state and said that after all the good work, it has got only brickbats from the Congress-led Centre and never a bouquet.

Singh clarified that the party was not against women's reservation but was opposed to the bill in its present form.

"We want quota for Dalit women within the quota for women. The bill in its present form favours only women from the creamy layer," he said.

Samajwadi Party is believed to have chosen this pilgrim town for its national executive, as the party has its eyes on Uttaranchal, which was a part of UP, and presently under Congress rule.