The Congress, in its three-day Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee brainstorming camp at Hardwar which ended yesterday, has equated the SP with the BJP and vowed to ``uproot'' both parties from Uttar Pradesh, thus matching SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's trenchant criticism with its own fulminations. ``The brainstorming camp organised by the UPCC vows to pluck the communal (BJP) and casteist (SP) forces in the State from the roots and throw them out as made clear by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in her inspiring address. For this, we shall launch an open campaign against them as the first step,'' reads the first paragraph of the Hardwar Declaration, issued at the end of the three-day camp.

The camp wasthe first State-level convention in the Congress on the lines of its Pachmarhi conclave last September and is an important milestone in the UPCC's history, being the first such exercise by the UPCC. It is also being seen as an important indicator of what the Congress approach would be in UP, a state seen as central to the party's revival in the country and its chances of forming a government at the Centre.

Therefore, the Hardwar Declaration was keenly awaited by the Congress and other parties. The main interest was what line the party would take on the SP, which has occupied the space vacated by the Congress in UP as the principal anti-BJP force.

After his initial fondness towards 10, Janpath, Mulayam Singh turned bitter against the Congress after the SP was pushed to the third place in the Agra (East) Assembly by-election on November 25. The Congress recovered a fair amount of lost ground in the constituency which was never seen as a strong area for the party and, in the process, the SP candidate losthis deposit. Soon after, Mulayam began hitting out at Sonia after perceiving the Congress to be his main enemy in the State. He led a strong attack on the Congress in the SP's four-day national convention in Bhopal last month which curiously spent all its energy blasting the Congress. Hardly anything was said against the BJP there and the tone and tenor of the criticism surprised Mulayam's friends in the Congress like Sharad Pawar. Now, it is the Congress' turn. All through the Hardwar Declaration, the Congress minces no words against the SP, clubbing it with the BJP. After vowing to ``obliterate'' the SP in UP, the declaration says, ``Non-Congress governments'', including two terms of Mulayam, had ``brought UP to bankruptcy''.

The declaration adds: ``By promoting casteism, they have destroyed social harmony. They (BJP and SP) have built walls of hatred in the people in the name of religion and caste. In the garb of governments, they have converted politics into a means of making money and destroyed thebasic principles of the independence struggle. They have encouraged disruptive forces and totally halted the process of development. People are livid at these unprincipled and fraudulent parties.'' Rarely, if ever, has the Congress used such language for the SP especially after Sonia became the party head. UPCC president Salman Khurshid has attacked Mulayam several times but now it is official in the form of a party resolution. Apart from the strong attack on the BJP and SP, the declaration calls on party workers and leaders to work together, stress on the welfare of minorities, women, OBCs and SC/STs, encourage small-scale industries, give party posts to people who stuck with the Congress in troubled times and hold a convention on the UP economy.

The Patnaik headache

NEW DELHI: J B Patnaik, who quit as Orissa chief minister two days ago, is attracting a fair amount of sympathy which he didn't get before he stepped down. At least six Congress Working Committee members, including Sharad Pawar andpeople known to be close to Sonia, spoke to him on phone. This is being seen as an indication of the worry Patnaik's stepping down is causing to the Congress.