Sonia stock: Bullish on Mufti, bearish on Mulayam

Though Mulayam Singh was also tipped to meet her to seek support, the meeting was put off. Sonia called a meeting of her senior colleagues tonight to discuss the stand to be taken after repeated requests by the SP to meet her. The overwhelming opinion at the meeting — it was attended by Arjun Singh, Salman Khurshid, Mohsina Kidwai, Ambika Soni, Motilal Vora, Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad — was to tread cautiously.

There was also a feeling that there was no need for the Congress to open its cards right away. However, one or two voices advocated keeping the door open to Mulayam with a view to the Lok Sabha elections in 2004.

In J-K, the party decided against acting like the Big Brother and gave the chief ministership to the PDP, even though the regional ally won fewer seats than the Congress. Unlike Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has done his politics outside the state and is from Doda in Jammu, Mufti belongs to the Valley.

Given the international attention the polls got, Sonia was reportedly uneasy about splitting the PDP and forming the government on her own. Manmohan Singh and Arjun Singh favoured giving the CMship to Mufti.

In UP, things are more fuzzy. Supporting the SP is a tricky proposition. There is a fear in the party that Mulayam, who has a penchant for breaking allies once he is in power, could gobble up the Congress and make the revival of the party difficult in the state. On the other hand, the Congress is rapidly winning back the support of the minorities, and cannot be seen as opposing the formation of a secular government.

There would be the possibility of a crack in the BSP-BJP alliance once it goes out of power. A Congress-SP tie-up has the potential to bring both parties to power, having a bearing on the saffron party’s fortunes in Delhi in 2004. Mulayam is of the view that the moment the Congress announces its support, other parties would break and back him.