Cong target at SP’s Iran rally, Left mum

The campaign on the ground then is for an independent foreign policy backed by the four Left parties and the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (S) but actually, it is an exhibition of the Samajwadi Party’s support base in the state.

‘‘This conference is an indication of a Third Front and will demonstrate that so many people are coming together against the Congress, even though it is on a foreign policy issue,’’ says Mujibur Rahman, president of the local unit of the SP.

People will be brought in from across the state at the Laxman Mela grounds the venue of the ‘‘conference.’’ Arrangements have been made on a huge scale with 25,000 chairs laid out.

The immediate provocation for the SP’s demonstration and show of strength could be Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s recent comment at a rally near Amethi that a change was inevitable in UP. UP Congress chief Salman Khurshid says SP leaders are only desperate to convince themselves that theirs is not a dying party.

But local Congressman Abid Hussain articulated what was perhaps going through the minds of his party colleagues when he said: ‘‘This is nothing but UP politics. The Samajwadi Party is trying to create confusion by aligning with the Left parties, who are supporting the UPA to show there is division in the ranks and tell the Congress that your coalition partner is actually with us. They are trying to kill two birds with one stone.’’

Perhaps this is why, the CPI(M) that initially raised the Iran issue, is keeping its fingers crossed that the conference does not sidetrack the Iran issue. S.P. Kashyap, state secretary of the CPI(M), says there have been lengthy discussions between party chief Prakash Karat and UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav that the meet will just be on the Iran issue and all speakers are expected to stick to that understanding.