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'RLD to swim with SP'

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, JAN. 12. The Rashtriya Lok Dal headed by the former Union Minister, Ajit Singh, has reiterated that it would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections only in the company of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. The party could join any political front only if the Samajwadi Party was also a part of it, said Munna Singh Chauhan, a senior party legislator.

Recent meeting of Mr. Ajit Singh with the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, had led to speculations that RLD was toying with the idea of joining the alliance led by the Congress, a proposal that has been rejected by the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mr Chauhan said that no political meaning should be attributed to the meeting of Mr. Singh with Ms Gandhi. The meting had taken place as Mrs Gandhi wanted to see the RLD leader. A message to this effect had been conveyed to Mr Singh by the senior Congress leader, Ahmed Patel.

The RLD legislator said that Mr. Singh had taken Mr. Yadav into confidence before going to meet Sonia Gandhi. Any speculation about the objective of the meeting was, therefore, meaningless, he added.

His party has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections as a part of the ruling UP alliance and there was no change in this decision.

Meanwhile, comments made by the Rashtriya Kranti Party leader, Kalyan Singh, on the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi, are reported to have come handy to his detractors in the Bharatiya Janata Party to stall his coming back to the BJP.

Mr Singh reportedly told the Congress leaders, who had come to greet him on his birthday on January 5, that the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi was no political issue and she was a true "Indian Bahu''.

Giving a clean chit to Ms. Gandhi, when the BJP wanted to make it an issue during the elections, indicated Mr. Singh's distorted thinking, his opponents point out.

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