LUCKNOW, Jan 16: In an apparent bid to broker peace with the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has showered lavish praise on the Gandhi family, hailing them as ``martyrs''. In the same breath, he reiterated his commitment to uphold the unity of the United Front.Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said: ``People say that Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. I feel he gave up his life for the country. Even his mother, Indira Gandhi, is a martyr''. However, he ruled out any pre-poll alliance with the Congress.Hailing Sonia as a ``great leader'', Mulayam said: ``I respect her very much''. But he denied reports that he had met her last week to strike an electoral understanding in the State. Praising the Gandhi family, Mulayam said Rajiv was the first national leader to hail him as a ``secular leader capable of fighting communal forces in UP.''However, cautious to to keep his partners in good humour, he asserted that he would not spare any Lok Sabha seat for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. ``We will field SP candidates from Amethi and Rae Bareli as well even if Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka contest from these seats,'' he claimed. But he also added that he would spare a seat for Sonia if she ``begged for it''.The SP chief thus appears to be angling for a post-poll alliance with the Congress, in case the United Front fails to cobble up a majority. And in an indication to his thinking, SP leaders announced their first list of 25 candidates in UP today without waiting for the verdict of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the arbitrator appointed by United Front to resolve the impasse over seat-sharing between the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal.``I don't have much time for negotiations which is why I have left the task to idlers like Surjit, Amar Singh and State SP president Ram Sharan Das,'' Mulayam told reporters.He said the JD leaders had not presented their demands as yet. ``We have received only the CPI (M)'s request for certain seats. But they have left the final decision to us since the SP is the largest UF constituent in UP,'' said Mulayam.The SP has fielded a BJP defector, Parushram Gangwar, against BJP-supported Maneka Gandhi from Pilibhit. The JD had claimed the seat which Maneka had won on their symbol in 1996. JD leaders today claimed to have raised the issue before Surjeet.Another BJP defector, Shyama Charan Gupta, has been fielded from Allahabad against BJP heavyweight Murli Manhor Joshi. BSP rebel Hari Kishan Srivastava has been nominated to contest from Bilhaur while outgoing Congress MP, Ram Murti Singh Varma, has been asked to contest against Congress heavyweight Jitendra Prasada from Shahjahanpur. An electoral showdown among constituents of the UF in UP now appears certain as JD leaders refused to be cowed down by Mulayam's threat.``We don't recognise Mulayam Singh. Why should we send our demands to him. We will give our list to Surjit only since he has been appointed as the mediator,'' said State JD chief Ram Singh. JD general secretary K C Sonkar assertedthat his party won't contest less than 20 seats.Mulayam is not willing to give more than 10 seats to the UF allies, including the JD, out of a total of 85 in U.P, while the State election committee of the Dal has sent names of its candidates for all the 85 constituencies to the Central leadership.JD leaders have actually claimed 20 seats in the State but they have decided to contest all the 85 seats if seat-sharing talks fail. They have already sent a panel of candidates to the central parliamentary board of the party.``We had fared better in the previous Lok Sabha polls and had sacrificed some of our sure seats like Bijnore, Sambhal, Chail and others for the SP. But Mulayam is trying to prove that the Dal has no base in the State,'' Jagdish Lal, a senior JD leader, told The Indian Express.
