February 2: Heard of the story where two cats fight over a piece of cheese and, in the melee, the monkey runs away with it? This is exactly what appears to be happening between the messiahs of secularism in the metropolis. The advantage might ultimately be handed over to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, as the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal both accuse each other of a sell out to the communal forces.The SP is contesting three seats in the Mumbai-Thane belt in alliance with the Congress. The Republican Party of India, the other alliance partner, is contesting one seat in Mumbai and three in Vidarbha. JD is now accusing the SP of betrayal. Trading charges, the SP accuses the State unit of the JD of ``doing deals with the communal forces.'' Not to be left behind, JD spokesperson Kapil Patil accuses the the SP and the Shiv Sena of having been ``hand-in-glove right from the shoes scam to the Sahara India deal.'' Patil says the SP's tie-up with the Congress is not only a betrayal of UF, butalso of its electorate. ``We win on the anti-Congress, anti-BJP vote. How can they tie up with the Congress?'' he asks. Patil says the JD feels doubly betrayed by the SP because all along, at the Centre and the State level, it adopted a cloak and dagger attitude: assuring the UF it would have no truck with the Congress, and then going ahead with seat adjustments with the party.Hussain Dalwai, the SP's state unit president, makes similar charges against the JD. ``They are putting up candidates deliberately against us because of their deals with the BJP. We have long known about Deve Gowda's motives. Now it is in the open for all to see.''SP city unit president Abu Hashim Azmi adds, ``You have to see our alliance in perspective. In Maharashtra we face a peculiar situation. The UF is non-existent here. The fight is only between the Congress and the Sena-BJP. So if we wish to win a few seats, we have to align with the Congress, not the UF constituents.''Patil, however, is unconvinced. ``They have put upweak candidates against the Sena in all the three constituencies of Mumbai North West, Mumbai South Central and Thane. Moreover, the Congress is doing its best to save Mohan Rawle. They also have understandings with zother Sena candidates. The JD's candidates are strong and secular.We will definitely win the seats we are contesting in the city,'' he says.SP's Azmi is equally confident. ``Between us (Congress-SP-RPI), we will win five out the six seats from Mumbai,'' he adds refusing to identify the one they might lose.
