Poor harvest for RKP in civic polls

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, DEC. 3. The former Chief Minister, Mr. Kalyan Singh's Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) has been routed in the recently-held civic elections in Uttar Pradesh. The party failed to win even in Mr. Kalyan Singh's hometown, Atrauli, and also in his district, Aligarh, both of which were bagged by the BJP.

The credit for the BJP victory goes to the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, who at a rally in Atrauli announced that he had adopted it for development. Barring his caste-mates, all voters turned away from Mr. Kalyan Singh as he sought to cultivate the Muslims by denouncing the BJP and the RSS and feigning ignorance about the plan to demolish Babri Masjid.

Mr. Rajnath Singh was also able convince the RKP mayoral candidate in Meerut, Mr. S. Goyal, in favour of his BJP rival, and announced this during the rally. And the results went the BJP way, with the RKP tally failing to touch even double figures.

The worst results came in from Lucknow, where the RKP mayoral candidate lost his deposit and only a solitary candidate, out of 110, managed to win a seat.

The party's controversial general-secretary, Mrs. Kusum Rai, could not ensure a win in her Rajajipuram ward, which was also bagged by the BJP. Incidentally, Mrs. Rai had initiated many development projects, including constructing hospitals and stadia and widening roads, when Mr. Kalyan Singh was in power. But her style of functioning disillusioned the voters.

Interestingly, the BJP rebels, who were expected to seek RKP nomination, preferred to contest as Independents in the hope that if they won, they would be forgiven and taken back into the fold.

Much to Mr. Kalyan Singh's disbelief, most of the BJP rebels who joined him after his expulsion have left him. This included even the Lodh Rajput leader, Mr. Ganga Charan Rajput, a former follower of Mr. V.P. Singh whom Mr. Kalyan Singh had roped in to strengthen his caste lobby within the BJP.

The former MLA, Mr. Ram Kumar Shukla, got disillusioned with Mr. Kalyan Singh, as also the former MP, Mr. Om Prakash Nidar. They alleged that the reins of the party were with Mrs. Kusum Rai, who was behaving like an autocrat.

Despite his belated secular pretensions and anti-BJP and anti-RSS stance, Opposition parties are keeping their distance from Mr. Kalyan Singh. The BSP leader, Ms. Mayawati, is still angry with him for cutting short her term as Chief Minister when he was with the BJP.

The Samajwadi Party chief, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, eager to retain his backward class votebank, does not want the emergence of a rival power group in the State. He is also aware that the Muslims will never forgive Mr. Kalyan Singh and hence, even a limited understanding with the RKP is ruled out. The same is true of the Congress, who also want to retain their Muslim votebank.

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