Ajit Singh to meet Sonia to discuss alliance for UP poll

Sources in the Congress Party have said that the Rashtriya Lok Dal leader is likely to be given the civil aviation portfolio and will contest 45 to 50 seats in western UP. Renu Mittal reports.      

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh, with whom the Congress has been in discussions for the last few months for an electoral tie up in western Uttar Pradesh, appears to have finally come on board, according to sources in the Congress party.

Ajit Singh, who still carries remnants of his father Charan Singh's jat legacy, and is in a position to influence jat votes, is scheduled to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi. According to Congressmen, the meeting with Congress president only happens once the nitty-gritty's have been worked out and the loose ends tied up.

According to sources, the RLD will contest 45 to 50 seats in western UP. Along with this Ajit Singh is likely to be given the civil aviation portfolio, which is currently with Vayalar Ravi as additional charge.

Civil Aviation is certainly not Ajit Singh's first choice; he wanted agriculture, which is with Congress ally Sharad Pawar. Singh had his eye on commerce and industry, which is with Anand Sharma, but the prime minister did not wish a change in it. Ajit Singh would have even been happy with telecom, but since the 2G scam, the government is moving with utmost caution and certainly does not need any more trouble on the telecom front.

Ajit Singh was offered civil aviation, which had been with ally Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party and was given to Vayalar Ravi as additional charge to manage till someone else stepped in.

Sources say that if all goes well, the alliance will be announced after the meeting with the Congress president. There were three points of discord in the ongoing negotiations which were being handled by All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of UP, Digvijaya Singh.

It is learnt that Rahul Gandhi's brief to Digvijaya Singh was that he wanted an alliance with Ajit Singh in western UP and it was up to him to deliver that alliance. The areas of disagreement centered on the number of seats that the RLD would contest, the nature of those seats and the portfolio for Ajit Singh.

It is not yet clear whether Ajit Singh would be immediately inducted into the government. With very little time left for the UP elections, it is more than likely that he may be taken into the government sooner rather than later. The prime minister will be travelling to Russia on December 15 and returns only on 17th, while Parliament session ends on December 22. However, government sources say there is no bar on a minister being inducted or dropped even while a Parliament session is on and it can take place at the convenience of the prime minister, the President and the person being inducted.

In the meantime, the Congress Core committee had its customary Friday meeting even though it was the birthday of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The meeting took place in the backdrop of Parliament again being disrupted with the opposition demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna after an FIR was filed against him in connection with a mining lease during his tenure as Karnataka Chief Minister.

Sources in the core committee said there is no question of Krishna or Home Minister Chidambaram resigning unless there were adverse court orders against them. The manner in which the opposition repeatedly disrupted Parliament also came up for discussion.

It is learnt that the core committee also discussed the food security bill, which is Sonia Gandhi's favourite topic, but which is being opposed by sections of the government including Sharad Pawar for various reasons. The Congress president wants it to brought as soon as possible but because of the huge amount of money involved, the government is vary of committing to the scheme.

The core committee also discussed Ajit Singh's alliance with the Congress in UP and the approaching polls in the state. There are others who also need to be taken in the cabinet including PRP chief Chiranjeevi as well as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nominee.