Talks fail,JD(U) to fight all seats alone

Given the cold shoulder by the BJP in its overtures for seat adjustment in Uttar Pradesh,the Janata Dal(United) has decided to go it alone in the Assembly polls

Given the cold shoulder by the BJP in its overtures for seat adjustment in Uttar Pradesh,the Janata Dal(United) has decided to go it alone in the Assembly polls. We will fight all 403 seats in UP, NDA working chairman and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav announced here on Wednesday.

Yadav,who has been kept waiting by BJP leaders after several rounds of talks,said the negotiations had failed. He disclosed that talks had been held at different levels with BJP president Nitin Gadkari,party point-man for UP Sanjay Joshi and senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. But nothing concrete came out of the talks,following which the party decided to contest all the seats. To start with,Yadav named party candidates for 32 seats.

Leaders of the two parties had jointly identified some 20-odd seats which could be allocated to the JD(U). Sources in the JD(U) said what made them conclude that the BJP may not take them on board was the fact that the party was busy finalising its nominees for some of the seats which had been claimed by the JD(U).

However,when asked if the UP seat adjustment issue reflected a rift between the JD(U) and BJP,Yadav said,There is no such thing. We have no complaint vis-a-vis the BJP…. We have a nation-wide alliance.

When asked if a post-poll alliance with the BJP was possible,the JD(U) chief said,We would take a call on this when the time comes. Yadav said he and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would both campaign for party candidates. A three-member team comprising party general secretary K C Tyagi,Rajya Sabha member R C P Singh and UP JD(U) chief Suresh Niranjan Bhaiya would oversee the campaign.

The JD(U) chief decried the induction of tainted leaders by other parties. Politics should remain clean, he said. The JD(U),he said,would campaign against tainted candidates. Yadav did not refer to any name,but if seen in the backdrop of the Babu Singh Kushwaha controversy,it can be interpreted as a disapproval of his admission to the BJP.

Those fielded by the JD(U) include Manveer Singh Tewatia (Jewar),who spearheaded the movement the Bhatta-Parsaul agitation,former minister Mahendra Singh Yadav (Sikandarabad) and former MLA Brajesh Mishra (Pratapgarh).