SP, Cong coming close

NEW DELHI: There is a qualitative change in the relations between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. There is growing realisation in the two camps that they need to join forces in order to take on the BJP-BSP in UP and the NDA at the national level.
It is this realisation which has led to a quick change of heart on both sides. Shedding earlier inhibitions about doing business with the SP, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had underlined at the recent Congress CMs'' conclave at Srinagar that all secular parties need to get together to fight communal forces.She had indicated that the Congress would be willing to enter into an alliance with the SP in UP.
SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav reciprocated the compliment earlier this week by declaring at a public rally in Etawah that Gandhi is not a foreigner. Yadav conveniently forgot that his party had refused to support a Congress government in 1999 on the plea that foreigners could not be allowed to hold constitutional posts.
In an obvious shift, he said, "Sonia Gandhi is a true Indian who has imbibed the spirit of the country and its culture in totality," adding, "It is wrong to call Sonia a foreigner now."
Congress leaders maintain the SP needs their support in UP. In contrast to their earlier belligerent stand, both Yadav and Amar Singh have met Sonia periodically recently to impress upon her that a divided opposition would only strengthen the BJP-BSP coalition.