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RLM leadership joins issue with Congress leadership

Irked over the ''adverse comments'' made by Congress leaders against Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha has said the Morcha may go it alone in the November assembly election in four states, diminishing prospects of a poll alliance with the Congress.

Taking strong exception to the observations at the Congress's Pachmarhi conclave, that the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal were the main worries for the party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, SP general secretaries Amar Singh and Ram Gopal Yadav told newspersons in New Delhi that if the Congress failed to clarify charges levelled against the Morcha leaders, the RLM would be compelled to open a Pandora's box by asking various questions, including why minorities were disenchanted with the Congress.

They said the Morcha would not hesitate to field candidates in a big way during the assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan if the Congress failed to review its stand towards the Morcha.

Asked whether the division of votes would not help the BJP, Singh said if the Congress could fight communalism by opposing the ''secular Morcha'', then the Morcha could fight communalism in its own way.

The statement assumes significance as the new development may disturb the consolidation of ''secular forces'' to the BJP's benefit.

Singh described the Pachmarhi developments as ''unfortunate'' for the secular polity and said the Congress was confused, but the Morcha had a clear goal of dislodging the Vajpayee-led coalition government at the Centre.

''The Congress may target us (the RLM), but we will aim only at the BJP,'' he said.

Saying the Morcha has taken ''very seriously'' the reported comments by some Congress leaders that the Morcha leadership was unreliable, Singh said the RLM lent its support to the Congress during the recent Rajya Sabha election in Bihar, Maharashtra and UP while the Congress's own MLAs resorted to cross-voting against their party nominees.

Singh said the Pachmarhi conclave had insulted the RLM leadership which would not stomach such comments.

Referring to the Congress's view that regionalism is a passing phase, the SP leaders said the Congress should realise that it too had been reduced to a regional outfit with a shrunken base.

Singh noted that the RLM leaders were dubbed as ''casteist'', and said it was not their party which was pursuing casteism, but the Congress which had joined hands with a '' rabid casteist'' party like the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Saying the Congress should not misconstrue the Morcha's repeated pleas that it should take the lead in forming an alternative government as a sign of weakness, they said the Morcha could not pressurise the Congress to ensure ouster of the BJP. However, the Morcha would go ahead with its anti-BJP stand, they added.

Asked whether the Morcha would support the Congress if it sought its co-operation to ensure ouster of the BJP-led government, they said the Morcha would deliberate within the party as and when any such a request was made.

UNI

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