Left bandh: BSP out,SP in

State secretary of CPM,Sriprakash Kashyap,said the BSP is not participating in the protest against price hike on April 27.

“As for whether she was invited to the April 13 party meeting at Delhi,it can only be confirmed by the central office of the party at Delhi,” said Kashyap.

For the SP,the invitation has come as a godsend. The party had been facing political isolation at the Centre ever since Mulayam Singh’s handshake with Kalyan Singh a year ago. In the state,the Muslims had started drifting towards the Congress.

In a way,the relations between the SP and the Leftists have come a full circle. Before the Left parties withdrew support to UPA-I over the India-US nuclear deal in July 2008,Mulayam Singh shared excellent relations with the Left.

Without caring about the relations,the SP offered unconditional support to the government,which the Left did not appreciate.

The Left then roped in the BSP in its attempt to bring down the UPA-I government and form a non-Congress government in its place. Later,at the time of the Lok Sabha elections,the Left and the BSP forged a third front in case a single party failed to get a majority. Now,the SP has taken BSP’s place.

SP spokesperson Mohan Singh said the party’s joining hands with the Left parties to oppose the UPA government is “a step towards the formation of a third alternative at a later stage”.

He admitted that the SP had its differences with the Left over the Women’s Reservation Bill,“but when parties go in for an alliance,contentious issues are dropped and the parties move on issues of consensus.”

The Left parties are,however,not so enthusiastic and are guarded in their response. “There is no morcha or alliance with the Samajwadi Party or any other party at this stage,” said Kashyap.

“The 13 secular and democratic political parties have decided to join hands on the issue of organising a nationwide strike and protest against inflation,hike in price of fertilisers and petroleum products,and overall anti-people policies of the UPA government,” added Kashyap. Dr Girish said the UP unit of the CPI was not against an electoral understanding with the Samajwadi Party,but an alliance is a different issue. “In the 2012 Assembly elections,we will contest on our own strength,” he said.