JPC in mind,Congress goes soft on SP

The party is sure to find a place in JPC in which the ruling UPA is most likely to be in a minority.

As the ruling Congress prepares to constitute a JPC to probe the 2G scam,it has decided to go soft on the Samajwadi Party. Reason: The party is sure to find a place in JPC in which the ruling UPA is most likely to be in a minority.

In an indication of its softening stand,Home Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting with SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Friday. On agenda,sources said,was security cover for the SPs UP unit chief Akhilesh Yadav and its Lok Sabha MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh among others.

While Ram Gopal Yadav refused to divulge details of his meeting,SP workers in Delhi said his security cover that had been withdrawn had returned.

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Ram Gopal Yadav and Akhilesh were provided security cover by the Centre after the SP saved UPA-I when the Left-parties withdrew support to the government over the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008.

However,their security cover was withdrawn recently. Mulayam Singh had raised the issue when he met PM Manmohan Singh in January to seek security cover for Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.

The move is significant because the SP,which supports the UPA government from outside,stalled the winter session of Parliament along with other Opposition parties over a JPC probe.

Earlier this month,SP representative Mohan Singh had also forcefully demanded a JPC probe during the all-party meet convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

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It was in this meeting that the government first dropped hints about constituting a JPC.

The Congresss change of heart is also significant because it has come despite the fact that the SPs rival BSP had maintained an ambivalent stand towards the JPC probe.

In fact,BSP members never trooped to the well of the Houses demanding a JPC probe during the entire winter session. SP leaders expressed little surprise at the overture,pointing out that the Congress was trying to emerge as the main challenger to the BSP in UP ahead of the Assembly elections early next year.

They felt it may also be a ploy of the Congress to create pressure on the BSP government,which had recently withdrawn security protocol necessary for visiting Union Ministers belonging to the Congress in UP.