As KALYAN Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav cosy up to each other, an uneasy Congress has decided to wait and watch. While the party is keen on a tie-up with the Samajwadi Party, it doesn’t want anything to do with the former BJP leader in whose regime the Babri Masjid was demolished.

State Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Tuesday “to apprise her of the confusion within the party following the recent developments, including the unilateral announcement of lists by the Samajwadi Party”.

Joshi said she requested Sonia to speed up the decision on seat-sharing, and to announce the names of candidates for the seats on which the party “cannot compromise”.

Asked specifically about the growing Kalyan-Mulayam proximity, she said: “I cannot comment because whatever is the adjustment between them, the Congress is certainly out of the picture. Their association is not with the knowledge of the Congress and, as of now, Kalyan Singh is not a part of the alliance.”

Digvijay Singh, the AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, also indicated the Congress unease when he told reporters in Delhi: “He was the chief minister when the Babri Masjid was demolished. It is for the SP to decide.”

This is not the first time Mulayam and Kalyan are joining hands. In 2003, they came together to oust Mayawati. The

Congress had then supported the Mulayam government that was formed. However, as a senior Congress leader said: “Now we have to think beyond Uttar Pradesh.”

... contd.