PM will finalise alliance for U.P. polls: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 23. The Bharatiya Janata Party today formally vested the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, with all authority to finalise alliances for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls due early next year. However, the matter of selecting the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-election from the State was left to the BJP president, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthi.

At a breakfast meeting with Mr. Vajpayee, senior party leaders who are members of the election committee discussed the

Uttar Pradesh polls. Among those present were Mr. Krishnamurthi (in the chair), the Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, the former party president, Mr. Kushabhau Thakre and the general secretaries, Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Pyarelal Khandelwal.

A decision on the Rajya Sabha candidate was deferred because the meeting felt that there was still enough time - the last date for filing nominations is June 1 - and moreover, the State election committee had not yet met to make its recommendations to the central election committee. With the Prime Minister expected to be away for the remaining week, Mr. Krishnamurthi was authorised to take a decision, which he naturally will in consultation with the State unit, the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the general secretary in-charge of the State unit.

The U.P. Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, and the State unit president, Mr. Kalraj Mishra, who were present at the meeting, gave a brief account of the political situation in the State, Mr. Narendra Modi later told presspersons. The issue of possible new alliances in U.P. ahead of the Assembly polls was also discussed.

It is not a secret that the party has been talking to Mr. Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal for an electoral tie-up in U.P. But it seems that besides wanting to finalise the seat sharing arrangement in western U.P., his area of influence, Mr. Singh expects to be accommodated in the Union Cabinet.

``If Mr. Singh wants a Cabinet berth, and since only the Prime Minister is in a position to take a decision on it, the meeting thought it best to leave the matter of alliances to the Prime Minister,'' Mr. Khandelwal, later said.

Although Mr. Vajpayee naturally always has his say on matters related to forming alliances, this time the party has decided to formally announce that he would take the decisions and the party would implement them.

One message that is being read into this is that with the Uttar Pradesh political situation being rather delicate - not many even in the BJP expect any miracles for the party - and since the Prime Minister's home constituency is Lucknow, he should rightly take all the decisions (and the responsibility).

After the disastrous performance of the BJP in U.P. in the 1999 Lok Sabha election, the party had seen the sorry spectacle of the then Chief Minister, Mr. Kalyan Singh, and the Prime Minister virtually blaming each other for the debacle. Matters went out of hand and Mr. Kalyan Singh had to exit the party.

There have been repeated complaints from the party in U.P. about ``interference'' by the Prime Minister's men during the previous Government in the State. Perhaps to make it clear once and for all that the Prime Minister would call the shots in relation to U.P., the party said he would take the decisions (as opposed to collective decisions by the party).

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