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Digvijay stalling BSP's tie-up with Congress: Kanshi Ram

Bahujan Samaj Party president Kanshi Ram today singled out Chief Minister Digvijay Singh as the sole stumbling block in his party reaching an electoral alliance with the Congress to contain the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing the media immediately after a meeting of the Jan Morcha, Kanshi Ram said Digvijay Singh considered the BJP a lesser evil since that party did not believe in having a tribal chief minister. The Morcha is a 'non-United Front secular combine' spearheaded by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav.

''The chief minister had insisted that his party should have an alliance with the BSP immediately after the 1996 Lok Sabha election,'' he said. ''But when the BSP proposed that a tribal should be made the chief minister, Digvijay Singh did a volte face, and was obstructing the tie-up.''

The BSP supremo, however, made it clear that the chief minister's views in this regard were opposed by senior leaders like Arjun Singh and Madhavrao Scindia.

Kanshi Ram acknowledged that if his party ties up with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP will not secure a double digit tally in the Lok Sabha election. But since that proposition is not immediately feasible, the BSP is looking for other options, he said.

Aligning with the Congress is no solution since that party has no no base in UP now, he said. The BSP alone is in a position to bring down the BJP's tally in UP, he said.

He contended that the recent legislative council election, where his party failed to open an account, is no yardstick to judge his party's strength. The BSP's fight in that election was only token to ensure that the elected dalit pradhans do not shift their loyalty. Moreover, in the election, money power played a major role and the ruling party is always in an advantageous position, he said.

Refuting reports attributed to BSP leader Mayawati that the party would not give any seats to the Jan Morcha constituents including the Ballia seat to former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, Kanshi Ram said, ''It is a fact that I had asked Mayawati to prepare the list of candidates for all the 85 Lok Sabha seats in UP. But I am the president of the party and I will have to issue tickets.'' He indicated that the former prime minister will have no problems in getting the BSP's support.

The Morcha leaders, who met for over three hours at Chandra Shekhar's home, could not finalise the seat-sharing arrangements and will meet again on January 17. The meeting was attended, among others, by Laloo Yadav, former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders Sibbu Soren and Suraj Mandal. The BSP leader said he was trying to rope in National Conference leader, Dr Farooq Abdullah.

UNI

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