Front may throw Naidu out

Sources said the next meeting of the UF to be convened on the eve of the Parliament session would formally decide the TDP’s fate if it did not change its stand by then. Today’s meeting held at the residence of CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet was attended by A B Bardhan of the CPI, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal and G K Moopanar of the TMC.

The only dissenting voice was that of Bardhan. He said Naidu was in the UF out of his own will and there was no question of throwing him out. The CPI’s opposition to taking action against the TDP is understandable given its stakes in Andhra Pradesh where its strength in the Assembly comes from the TDP’s courtesy. The party also has two MPs from the State.

Anti-Naidu sentiment ran high in the meeting with the leaders saying that President K R Narayanan’s invitation to BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee to form the government came as a result of Naidu’s telephone call to him. Naidu had yesterday evening telephoned the President to convey his party’s decision to abstain when the BJP government takes its confidence vote in the Lok Sabha. They were sore that Naidu had done this without even taking the UF into confidence.

The leaders were of the view that by deciding to stay neutral, Naidu was helping the BJP indirectly. Asked about the UF’s moves against the TDP after the meeting, Mulayam Singh Yadav said “we are not doing anything. Naidu is taking his own decisions.”

CPM politburo member Prakash Karat said, “Naidu’s decision to abstain is a politically untenable position for the UF.” His party’s general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet commented that “Naidu has not fallen in line with the UF decision, but the UF will remain.”