Mulayam Calls Meet Of Secular Parties
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav hopes to use the Srikrishna report to bring `secular' opposition parties together and build a momentum to bring down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He has invited leaders of various parties_-except BJP and the Samata Party_-to a meeting on August 16.
Upbeat after organising a major rally of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha in Lucknow on Monday, Yadav said here yesterday he would write to all secular parties and build pressure for the dismissal of the Manohar Joshi government in Maharashtra. After the August 16 meeting, a joint opposition rally has been planned in Mumbai.
Yadav threw dark hints at a press conference that he and his Morcha were in close touch with the Congress on forming a government at the Centre. However, he refused to disclose the nature of talks with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, but expressed fervent hopes that the Congress take the initiative in bringing down the Vajpayee government.
He said it will be unfortunate if Vajpayee unfurled the Tricolour at the Red Fort on August 15. "We assure our and other like-minded parties full cooperation to the Congress in dislodging the government,'' he said.
Demanding the resignation of the Manohar Joshi government in the wake of indictment of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray by the Srikrishna commission, Yadav said if the ministry failed to quit on its own, the Centre
should sack it immediately. He alleged that Thackeray was behaving like an extra-constitutional authority and demanded his arrest.
According to the Samajwadi Party chief, Joshi's statement, terming the report `'biased and anti-Hindu'', was ridiculous and amounted to contempt of the judicial process in the country. "Joshi has a guilty conscience. That is why he rejected the report outright and did not allow even a discussion on it in the assembly.''
He said he would invite all parties except the BJP and the Samata Party for the August 16 meeting, but said he would consider inviting the Akali Dall since the party and the Samajwadi Party shared the perception that Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar should not be included in the proposed Uttaranchal state.