New Delhi: The Congress on Monday dismissed
suggestions that the defeat of Samajwadi Party in Firozabad
Lok Sabha bypoll meant the political write off of Mulayam
Singh Yadav.
"You cannot (write him off). He is a leader in his own
right. He is a highly political person, who has got a support
base," AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge
of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters here.
At the same time, Singh made it clear that the
Congress would be pitching itself to form the next government
in Uttar Pradesh in the 2012 elections.
Replying to a question, he also suggested that in
Bihar, too, the party was likely to go it alone. "If we are
satisfied with just three four seats, it will be a different
matter," he said.
Singh was also of the view that parties, which made
politics on the base of caste were on the decline. He said
these forces were on the ascendant after the Mandal issue as
"they did not deliver".
He claimed that BSP won several assembly seats in the
recent bypoll in UP "because the whole administration was
fighting the election."
On the possible return of Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti
to the BJP fold, the Congress leader said it would lead to
"more confusion and crisis in the saffron party, which is
already a divided house".
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 16, 2009, 23:57