UPA allies not ready to close ranks with SP

This was evident on Thursday when despite several attempts,Singh was unable to contact NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Earlier,Singh had publicly announced that he would meet Pawar to corner the Congress. However,Pawar is reportedly undecided on whether or not to meet him,given Singh’s scathing attack on the Congress after the Supreme Court kept its heat on against the CBI in the disproportionate assets case against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The distance maintained by the other UPA allies was apparent when RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav publicly distanced himself from the SP,saying that Mulayam should have never entered into a pact with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.

Recently,CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat,too,refused to meet Singh,despite the SP leader’s proposal to share details pertaining to the alleged ‘misuse’ of the CBI against politicians like Pinarayi Vijayan and Mulayam Singh.

Realising SP’s isolation,on Thursday,Singh toned down his attacks and expressed his party’s optimism regarding the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress.

He also backtracked from his earlier announcement of fielding party’s Mumbai unit president Abu Asim Azmi against Congress MP and daugther of Sunil Dutt,Priya Dutt,from Mumbai North-West constituency.

“Priya Dutt is Sunil Dutt’s daughter. Sunil Dutt was like a brother to us. We will not do anything against his daughter,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile,the SP Parliamentary Board is all set to meet on Thursday evening to discuss its relations with the Congress.

The meeting,which will be attended by Mulayam,Janeshwar Mishra,Ram Gopal Yadav and Singh,has been called to discuss the party’s strategy regarding the Congress’ stance of contesting on 30 seats as against 15 offered by the SP.