Kalyan favours tie-up with SP, Congress

NEW DELHI: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh — who has been the object of "friendly overtures" by a section of the BJP recently, despite his growing proximity to Mulayam Singh Yadav — does not seem keen on returning to the Hindutva fold.
On the contrary, he said that it was time the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and his own Rashtriya Kranti Party joined hands to sweep the next elections in Uttar Pradesh.
"You just can''t beat this combination, should it take concrete shape," he told The Times of India in his Uttar Pradesh Sadan suite here on Monday.
Stressing that the era of alliance politics is here to stay for at least another 10 years, he said no party, not even the Congress, could win elections on its own any longer in the all- too-crucial Ganga belt, in particular, and the country in general.

The former chief minister agreed that Priyanka Gandhi has the potential to recharge the Congress battery in Uttar Pradesh.
"But the Congress may not be able to wrest power from the NDA merely on account of Priyanka''s plunge into politics," he said.

"All those who matter in the Congress must, without any further delay, understand that we all have to live with the compulsions of alliance politics," he added.

Replying to a volley of questions, he confirmed that he had discussions with three BJP leaders — S Gurumurthy, Dinanath Mishra and Balbir Punj — in Lucknow last week. But he declined to disclose the details of the discussion, saying the callers were friends.

He also confirmed that he did meet Lalji Tandon and Kalraj Mishra on Sunday. He said it was purely a courtesy call.

His party''s relationship with the SP is going strong and there is no reason whatsoever for him to look back. But, at the same time, he attacked Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati''s "politics of revenge".

He said the BJP-BSP alliance would end in her political demise and that her party would ditch the BJP before the next elections.

Thanks to the BSP''s brand of politics, even upper castes are moving away from the BJP, according to Singh.
The BJP is heading for the fourth spot in the next elections, he said, considering the way it handles its affairs.

In the same vein, the former chief minister observed that the "so-called" BJP- BSP alliance exists only within the assembly complex in Lucknow. "Elsewhere in the districts, it''s only the BSP government which one comes across," he said.