There is finally some good news for UP chief minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The Congress-led UPA government at the centre is in no mood to “irritate” the two leaders at the moment and this means that both can expect further relief in the disproportionate assets cases pending against them in the Supreme Court.
According to highly placed sources in the Congress, the party wants to keep both the leaders in “good humour” till the Budget Session gets over. The Congress is apprehensive of being hauled over the coals in the Budget Session with the BJP getting increasingly aggressive will also need SP, BSP support on the JPC issue.
The Central government has already come to the rescue of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav in his disproportionate income case by defending him in the Supreme Court this week. Ms Mayawati can expect a similar relief in her case too.
“The SP and BSP support will be crucial for us in the coming weeks, both, in Parliament and outside it. The Uttar Pradesh battle is still some months away and we have to deal with issues closer home first. We will not be condoning their acts but, yes, we may go soft on them for the time being,” said a senior AICC leader while talking on condition of anonymity. An indication of the Congress softening its stand towards Ms Mayawati is evident form the fact that Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not utter a word against the state government during her recent visit to Rae Bareli.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who visited three rape victims in UP this week, was also comparatively cautious while criticising the Mayawati government which also reciprocated by not reacting to Mr Gandhi’s statements.
The Congress, however, is aware that a change of attitude towards the SP and BSP may spoil its chances in the next assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
“Once the Budget Session is over and things stabilise at the Centre, we will definitely take a more aggressive stand against these two parties because we want to elbow them out and regain lost space in UP. However, for the moment, we are forced by circumstances to lie low. Politics, after all, is a game of possibilities and compulsions,” the AICC leader explained.
While the Central government is adopting a cautious approach, it has allowed the state unit of the party to continue its tirade against the two parties and rake up local issues. “All we have asked the state unit is to remain in the limits of dignity and decency while issuing statements. On other issues, the party is free to act as it wishes,” the leader added.