Out in Cong cold,SP seeks Left comfort

Singh said his meeting with Bardhan was part of his party’s efforts to explore “new political possibilities in the new year”. “I have met Bardhan. I have talked to Karat and will be meeting him on Wednesday,” he said. After his meeting with Karat,Amar Singh will brief Mulayam about the developments.

During the meeting,Singh gave ample signals to Bardhan that all is not well with the SP-Congress relationship. He is also learnt to have conveyed to the CPI leader that although his party has agreed to give 15 seats to the Congress in UP,the arrangement is far from being finalised.

Sources in the Left view Singh’s visit as a bridge-mending exercise,especially at a time when the Congress has hardened its stand after the Mulayam-Kalyan Singh pact. SP leaders,on the other hand,said there is a line of thought in the party that if the seat-sharing talks with Congress do not work out as planned,it should try to woo the Left for a UP-specific alliance since the BSP has not accommodated the Left.

“We have been hearing about the SP-Congress seat-sharing talks for some time. But no announcement has been made so far on the exact composition of the alliance. What I got to know from Amar Singh is that nothing has been finalised as yet,” Bardhan told The Indian Express.

Asked whether there is any possibility of a Left-SP tie-up,Bardhan said the Samajwadi Party is in talks with the Congress and there has been no indication of a breakdown as yet. Sources in the Left,however,ruled out any chance of a pre-poll alliance with the SP given its current association with the Congress.

Both the CPI(M) and the CPI are confused about the strategy to be adopted in UP since its newfound friend,the BSP,has decided to go it alone. The thinking in both the parties as of now is to field candidates wherever they have a presence and ask its cadre to vote for the BSP in other seats.

Although the Left parties are in touch with NDA allies JD(U) and the BJD,sources said there is little possibility of a pre-poll understanding with them,but things could change after the elections. Similar is the case with UPA constituents like the RJD and the NCP,who are also trying to woo the comrades.