LUCKNOW, 23 March 2007 — Efforts to cobble up a formidable front in Uttar Pradesh floundered yesterday with V.P. Singh-led Jan Morcha ruling out the possibility of an alliance with Congress Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) of Ajit Singh for the coming assembly elections.
The Morcha led by former Prime Minister V.P. Singh said: “In spite of differences on issues like the Indo-US nuclear deal and land acquisition, we proposed an alliance with Congress and RLD but they did not responded positively.”
“Congress had initially contacted us. Owing to the worsening law and order situation in the state, we offered 210 seats to them. Now no talks are underway and there will be no future talks either,” Singh told reporters yesterday. “Do not underestimate Jan Morcha. We have a strong support base among the minorities and the most backward classes,” he said. Jan Morcha has promised reservation for the Dalit Muslims if it comes to power in the state.
Talking about the Morcha’s strength senior leader, Raj Babbar, said: “Jan Morcha already had an alliance with the Communist Party of India (CPI), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and 18 Muslim outfits in the state including Parcham Party, Muslim Vikas Morcha, Jamaat-e-Islami, Indian National League and People’s Democratic Forum.”
Babbar, however, ruled out any understanding with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). “We have decided to withdraw our alliance with the NCP due to its recent closeness with Hindu extremist Shiv Sena in Maharashtra,” Babbar said.
In a setback to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, high-profile state Minister for Haj and Minorities Welfare, Haji Yaqoob Quraishi, has decided to contest the assembly elections as the United Democratic Front (UDF) nominee from two seats in Meerut district. Qureishi, who had broken away from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to join the Yadav government in 2003, said that after disqualification of 13 legislators by the Supreme Court, they were more or less like independents and free to decide their course of action.
This brings the curtain down on Yadav’s efforts to carry the UDF with him to keep his Muslim vote bank intact.
Initially, UDF chief Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, had reportedly shown interest in tying up with Mulayam’s party, but the state leadership of the party resisted the move.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has directed the seven states surrounding Uttar Pradesh to seal their borders ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
Disclosing this, Uttar Pradesh Chief Election Officer Anuj Bishnoi said here yesterday that this followed a meeting of top officials of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi — which share borders with the state.
