Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singhs bid to mend fences with the Left has hit the Prakash Karat road block. The CPM general secretary is learnt to have turned down a request from the SP leader for a meeting. Sources said the CPMs understanding is that there is no need for Karat to meet the Samajwadi Party leader as there is no meeting point between the two as of now. Although Singh sought an appointment with Karat,the CPM top brass is learnt to have taken the view that there is no point in meeting the SP leader when his party charted its own course with the Congress and is now engaged in seat-sharing talks with the ruling party. The CPMs reluctance to engage Amar Singh is also because of Kalyan Singhs new-found association with the SP. With Amar Singh,we can only discuss political issues but the politics of our two parties are on separate courses now, a top CPM leader told The Indian Express. In a surprise move,Amar Singh had called on CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan on Monday with an open declaration that the meeting was part of his partys efforts to explore new political possibilities in the new year at a time when SP-Congress seat-sharing talks are in a limbo. Although Bardhan agreed to meet Singh,he made it clear that there can be no association with the SP which is in the Congress camp. While ties between SP and the CPM broke down after the SP decided to back the UPA government when the Left withdrew support on the nuclear deal last year,it took a turn for the worse after Singh went on an attack-CPM spree after the trust vote. Singh had even issued a poster displaying photos of Karat,BSP chief Mayawati and senior BJP leader L K Advani engraved on a crown with an inscription Hey Ram. Singh attacked the Left for deciding to vote along with the communal BJP to topple the UPA and its absolutely wrong move to ask Somnath Chatterjee to quit the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. He had also apologised for favouring CPM on the agitation in Singur and expressed his partys support for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
