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Congress, Mulayam disagree over prime ministerial nominee

The issue of prime ministership appears to have dampened the Congress's response to the Samajwadi Party's overtures regarding the combined Opposition's efforts to replace the ruling coalition at the Centre.

At the Congress briefing on Tuesday, senior party leader Salman Khursheed said his party was not too enthusiastic about the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav's proposal to make Mulayam Singh Yadav the prime minister.

When the media asked Khursheed what he thought of Laloo Yadav's proposal, he quipped: "Two is company, three is a crowd." Asked to elaborate, Khursheed pointed out that the Congress had its own views on the matter and did not share Laloo Yadav's enthusiasm over his proposal.

Ever since the SP and the RJD formed the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha, the chiefs of these two parties have been projecting their newly formed alliance as an alternative to the BJP-led government at the Centre.

But the Congress does not appear to be too enamoured of this move for a very cogent reason -- the party is getting used to the idea that its chief, Sonia Gandhi, would be the next prime minister.

The Congress has reasons to be confident. First, with the ruling coalition tottering and with its allies frequently threatening to pull it down, the Congress as the second largest party in Parliament is well placed on the road to power.

The dominant Left party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, had recently declared its intention to support Sonia as the prime ministerial candidate if the BJP-led government were to collapse. This seems to have given Sonia and her party a head-start over Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Thus, while Sonia and her party are waiting for the auspicious moment to arrive, Mulayam Singh Yadav has to be content with his on-record stance that he would support the Congress' bid for power if the necessity arose.

For Mulayam Singh Yadav, there are some political advantages in the current political scenario in the country.

The rejection of the Justice B N Srikrishna Commission report by the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra has sent numerous members of the Muslim community to the SP bandwagon.

Realising this, he has called upon the Opposition parties to take up the political fallout of the Commission report which has held the saffron forces responsible for attacking the Muslims during the 1992-93 Bombay riots.

Although the Congress leaders have not said so in so many words, quite apparently Mulayam Yadav's move is a sore point with the Congress which has constituted a five-member committee to study and evaluate the report. Thus, vying for the same goal, Sonia and the SP chief are poised on an indirect collision course.

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