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SP-Congress vie for political one-upmanship in U.P.

LUCKNOW, AUG. 8. A pseudo political upmanship between two ally partners in Uttar Pradesh -- Samajwadi Party and Congress -- continues even as both parties are supporting each other at the Centre and State.

The ruling SP and Congress have been at loggerheads over several issues prominently after the Lok Sabha elections and now a bridge at Allahabad has become another bone of contention between them.

The Congress had already finished a week-long agitation against the Mulayam Singh Yadav government yesterday to protest the "deteriorating" law and order, poor power supply and misery of farmers.

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, who was to inaugurate the Rs. 400 crore cable bridge at Allahabad on August 12, is said to have postponed her programme following dispute over the naming of the new bridge. The function could well prove to be a turning point in the State politics, as the Congress president and the Chief Minister would share the dais for the first time.

However, in a major turnaround before the scheduled inauguration, a local SP leader yesterday inaugurated the bridge naming it as Liaquat Ali Bridge infusing more oil to the dispute between the two parties.

The Congress had said the bridge would be named as Rajiv Gandhi Setu after the late leader, who sanctioned the project in 1988-89 during his tenure as the Prime Minister.

The BJP had also locked itself in the fight for the naming of the bridge on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. They claim the previous NDA government was responsible for its construction.

A senior SP leader here said there was no politics behind the naming of the bridge. "We only want it to be named after a freedom fighter while others are playing politics on the issue."

A report from Allahabad said a former SP Municipal Board member Nizamuddin had yesterday inaugurated the bridge and named it as Maulvi Liaquat Ali Setu. He also warned that "people would take to roads if anyone tried to rename it".

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh clarified that unnecessary hype was being created on the issue.

"Late Rajiv Gandhi was the main instrument behind construction of the bridge which was sanctioned by the Congress government way back in 1988-89," he claimed.

"It would be better if all parties agreed on naming the bridge as Rajiv Gandhi Setu since Allahabad is the hometown of Nehru-Gandhi family and it would be a national homage to the great leader," he observed.

Reacting to the inaguruation of bridge by a "small" SP leader yesterday, the Congress spokesman said, "Now people know who are doing politics on the matter."

On the other hand, the BJP is keeping mum over the issue and its demand to name the bridge as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Setu seems to have lost steam after the NDA was voted out of power at the Centre.

Defeat of senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi at the hands of SP candidate Reoti Raman Singh in the Lok Sabha polls has also given the ruling party an upper hand in the controversy.

The recent controversy over withdrawal of proposal to setup an Urdu University at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh on the objection of the Governor, T.V. Rajeshwar, has also created further rift between the Congress and SP.

UNI

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