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All eyes now on fence-sitters

Anita Joshua

Samajwadi Party faces desertions; TDP chief rallies opponents of nuclear deal

Deve Gowda much sought after
BJP sends feelers to Ajit Singh

— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu with Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: As the countdown began for the confidence motion, fence-sitters kept everyone guessing on Saturday, while the Samajwadi Party faced desertions soon after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati reached the capital to bolster the effort to bring down the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Though the SP got a jolt with its general secretary Shahid Siddiqui joining Ms. Mayawati, his departure does not affect the trust vote as he is a Rajya Sabha member. However, the party’s strength in the Lok Sabha got further depleted with S.P. Baghel moving to the Opposition camp. According to him, Muslims — and not Yadavs — formed the backbone of the SP and they felt deserted by the leadership’s decision to support the India-U.S. deal.

With this, the SP votes in the Lok Sabha have come down to 35 from 39 as Munawwar Hasan, Jai Prakash and Rajnarayan Budholia have already announced their decision to defy the party whip. Add to this, the possibility of the jailed Phulpur MP, Ateeq Ahmed, voting against the government.

The arrival of Ms. Mayawati, Telugu Desam Party leader and United Progressive National Alliance convener N. Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal (Secular) president H. D. Deve Gowda in the capital was followed by a series of meetings. Mr. Naidu first met Communist Party of India leaders A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja, and then had separate meetings with Ms. Mayawati, CPI(Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh and Mr. Gowda.

About his meetings, Mr. Naidu said: “We have to defeat this government.” Asked whether he was in favour of propping up Ms. Mayawati as Prime Minister as suggested by Mr. Bardhan, the TDP leader first said this was not the issue right now but indicated that he was not opposed to it.

Meanwhile, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhara Rao met Ms. Mayawati and Mr. Gowda, and had a second interaction in 24 hours with Mr. Ajit Singh. Separately, Mr. Bardhan and Mr. Raja also met Mr. Gowda who, along with Mr. Ajit Singh, is among the undecided. While he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Gowda’s visitors included Mr. Naidu and Bahujan Samaj Party MP Satish Mishra.

Describing his association with members of the “third front” as an old one, Mr. Ajit Singh said he was hearing all viewpoints. “All these opinions will be placed before our party for a collective decision,” he said refusing to comment on speculation of bargaining hard with the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for seat adjustments in the next parliament elections.

Meanwhile, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders confirmed that feelers had been sent to Mr. Ajit Singh. V.K. Malhotra and Arun Jaitley had been asked by the BJP to contact him and the party was not opposed to a seat-sharing arrangement, a senior leader said, adding that the two parties have had such an understanding in the past.

Similarly, the BJP is trying to rope in the TRS and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief, Shibu Soren. Though the BJP is not hopeful of success with Mr. Soren, it has let it be known that the party is no longer opposed to a separate Telangana.

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