NEW DELHI, 3 January 2005 — After a brief interval, the Congress-Samajwadi Party verbal duel is back in news. The Congress Party, so far careful about not pushing SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav beyond a point, has launched a frontal attack on him, questioning even his commitment to secularism.
This is an interesting development as even the new Uttar Pradesh unit chief of Congress, Salman Khurshid, a known Mulayam-baiter, had been asked to hold his punches, keeping the concerns about the stability of the central government in mind. But the party broke barriers all of a sudden, repeating its old charge of the SP’s hidden axis with the BJP. Congress spokesperson Abhisek Singhvi ridiculed Yadav’s “third front talks” and asked him to take care of his own party.
Singhvi made a suo motu statement at a press briefing, saying Yadav’s dream of a third front government was little else than making castles in the air. He said Yadav had before the May general election dreamt of becoming the prime minister with the BJP’s support but his “dream good” lay shattered along with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s punctured “feel good.” He said Yadav’s new dream through his 4th, 5th or 10th front would never come true.
Arguing that an alternative government could not be visualized without the help of the BJP, Congress leader asked Yadav to decide if he still had faith in secularism. “If he did, why was he talking about destabilizing this government for the benefit of the BJP?” the Congress spokesperson asked, adding that the SP can’t do both the things together.
“We know what kind of forces Yadav wants to strengthen. Yadav should decide if he wants to transform his hide-and-seek game with the BJP into an open affair,” Singhvi said, adding that Yadav had supported the BJP in the Lucknow saari scandal and Maharashtra elections. “But we want to remind Yadav,” Singhvi said, “that the BJP comes in a package which includes Narendra Modi and the RSS too.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the special ASEAN summit scheduled to be held in Jakarta on Jan. 6. Indonesia has invited India to attend the special ASEAN summit in Jakarta to discuss the aftermath of Asia’s devastating natural disaster.
The invitation was extended by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda when he spoke to External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh yesterday. In all, 23 countries, including the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and four major international organizations, have been invited.
The invitees include the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Australia, New Zealand besides the UN secretary-general, representatives from the World Bank, ADB, European Union and European Commission.
Manmohan conveyed India’s deep concern over the huge loss of life and property in Indonesia. While an Indian naval hospital ship is expected to reach Aceh on Jan. 2, INS Kukri will be leaving today from Madras for Indonesia carrying tents, blankets, emergency food and rations and medicines.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also called Natwar Singh and expressed concern and condolences over the loss of life and property in the tsunami disaster. The ambassadors from India, Japan and Australia-based in Washington joined a teleconference with US Undersecretary Marc Grossman and the UN relief coordinator to discuss various aspects of the relief and rehabilitation steps being undertaken.
