SP fields 108 candidates 'out of despair'

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">AHMEDABAD: Not many people would admit they are contesting the elections out of "helplessness" and "despair". But Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, who says his party has put up 108 candidates for the Gujarat elections, uses precisely these terms to explain why his party is out to divide the "secular vote" in a state where it virtually does not have any presence.<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">"Hum to majboori aur laachari mein</span> election<span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> lad rahe hain,</span>" he told TNN over the phone from New Delhi. He said that the party would go the whole hog to expose the dual policy on secularism of the Congress. "They have one yardstick for UP and another for Gujarat. They have taken off their secular clothes and jumped into the elections completely naked," he says, the bitterness distinct in his tone.<br />The Gujarat elections, he feels, is a battle between a former RSS ''pracharak'' (Vaghela) and a present ''pracharak'' (Modi). "The Congress is toeing a soft Hindutva line in Gujarat. Vaghela has even got some rival Shankaracharyas to campaign for the Congress," he says.<br />Singh said that the Congress, by abstaining from the recent UP MLC elections where it refused to support the joint opposition candidate, had saved the BJP government in the state from a certain collapse.<br />Asked whether the party had approached the Congress for a poll pact in Gujarat, he replied in the affirmative and said, "We had asked for some seats, but the Congress believes that aligning with a leader like Mulayam Singh would harm its soft Hindutva line." He said that it is unfair to question the Samajwadi Party on why it has decided to contest in Gujarat where it does not have a base.<br />"The Congress finished fourth in UP and yet the party never gave up hope. You have to start somewhere to make an impact in the long run. We are as strong or weak in Gujarat as the Congress is in UP," Singh said.<br />He said that even if the Samajwadi Party does not get many seats, it would prove its point and expose the Congress before the people. "What are we supposed to do in such a situation, we are a political entity after all."<br />Asked whether this would not boost the BJP''s chances in Gujarat, he replied, "The question is that of ideology and principles and we feel that the secular credentials of the Congress are in serious doubt." He said that the Congress lacks mass leaders in Gujarat. <br />"The only one who can be called a mass leader is Madhavsinh Solanki and he had been neglected by the Congress," Singh said.<br />He admitted that the Samajwadi Party had made some overtures towards Solanki, but the former chief minister categorically ruled out leaving the Congress.<br />"He (Solanki) feels that the Congress has made him what he is today, and even if the party does not recognise him today, he will not desert it," Singh said.<br />He recalled that when the riots broke out in Gujarat, he was one of the first to reach the state and tour the riot-affected areas. "At that time, the Congress leaders were still sitting at home, too afraid to come out," he remarked.<br />Singh said that the party has deputed two of its MPs, Uday Pratap Singh and Abu Azami, to co-ordinate the election campaign in Gujarat. Mulayam Singh and he would be touring the state for three days each, in the constituencies where the party has sizeable support. </div> </div>