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Ravi Kapoor
New Delhi, May 26: The Samajwadi Party (SP) has started negotiations with Left allies, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Block, SP general secretary Amar Singh said here on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Financial Express, he said, "Our aim is to defeat the Congress and the BJP. We expect positive response from the RSP and the Forward Block."
RSP central committee member Abani Roy refused to comment on negotiations with the SP, but he did not rule out the possibility of an alliance with the SP. It must be noted that the RSP and the Forward Block have shown their unwillingness to toe the pro-Congress line of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Meanwhile, the two-day SP Working Committee meeting started on Wednesday. At a press conference, Singh said that his party was keeping options open on an alliance with Sharad Pawar.
"We have to take the views of the unit in Maharashtra into account," he said. "Only after that we would be able to take any decision. Our party is notlike the Congress where the high command takes a decision and it is imposed on the state units."
It was only because the Congress surrendered before communalism that the BJP government was formed last year, Singh said. This led to attacks on the minorities.
The SP also accused an "alliance" between the BJP and the Congress on the economic front. These parties are "twin demons" of Indian politics. The liberalisation programme, started by the Congress, was furthered due to the "combined efforts" of both parties. Insurance was thrown open to MNCs, the patent laws were changed at the "order" of the WTO.
Further, in the name of Women Reservation Bill, "the high caste, upper class leadership" indulged in conspiracy. The SP also castigated movements like Uttarachal and Jharkhand which are the result of a "perverted mentality."
While the SP showered praise on president Mulayam Singh Yadav for pulling down the BJP government, it lambasted the "childish manner" in which the Congress tried to form thealternative government. It was to save the country from the duplicity of the Congress that the SP had suggested the formation of a government under the leadership of a third force.
Accusing the Congress for imposing another unwanted poll, the SP berated it for almost all that is bad and ugly in politics. "The people cannot forget the predatory regime of the Congress which strangled democracy and imposed dictatorship. Nor can Indian society forget the way the Congress spread the poison of communalism."
The SP gloated over the recent crisis in the Congress, saying that it is a "good result of the historic decision of the SP". This has exposed the "fascist" character of the Congress leadership.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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