Mulayam: Cloud on tie-up

New Delhi, Jan. 31: The Congress central leadership today readmitted chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s main Yadav rival, Ashok Yadav, into the party. The move is being interpreted as a clear signal of its intention to sever ties with the Samajwadi Party.

Ashok, who unsuccessfully contested against Mulayam Singh in the 1993 Assembly polls as a Congress candidate from Shikhohabad in western Uttar Pradesh, left the Congress nine years ago. He did so in protest at the outside support extended to the Samajwadi-Bahujan Samaj Party coalition government.

Ashok, who joined the BJP in 1995 and became a minister in the Rajnath Singh government, has been waiting to return to the Congress for nearly two years.

AICC secretary Subodh Kant Sahay today announced Sonia Gandhi’s nod for Ashok’s return, saying his homecoming would strengthen the party in the state and elsewhere, especially among the Other Backward Classes. Top state leaders were present at the news conference where Ashok’s return was announced.

Among them were AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes, working committee member Salman Khursheed, who has been rooting for an alliance with the BSP, as well as state unit chief Jagadambika Pal, Sanjay Singh and S.P. Malaviya.

Asked if his return to the Congress meant the party might withdraw support to the Mulayam Singh government, Ashok said he had quit the Congress over its support to his arch-rival, but the situation was different now. “It is not a matter of personal rivalry (with Mulayam Singh).”

Elsewhere, Khursheed reportedly held fresh secret talks with Mayavati yesterday with a view to sealing a pre-poll alliance. Sources said withdrawal of support to the government would be considered only if the Congress secured a firm poll pact with the BSP.