New Delhi, May 12: Top industrialist Anil Ambani on Wednesday called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, raising speculation that he was acting as an intermediary between her and the Samajwadi Party. Ambani, vice chairman of Reliance Industries, met Gandhi on Wednesday evening at her 10, Janpath residence in the backdrop of attempts to cobble an opposition alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling coalition.
Considered very close to Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ambani was seen as a bridge between Yadav and Gandhi -- whose strained ties have thwarted unity moves. Yadav has not yet dropped his objections to Italy-born Gandhi's candidature for the prime minister's post, a point on which he let the Congress chief down when she tried to form a Government in 1999.
There is pressure on Yadav from some political leaders to soften his stand and join a Congress-led coalition instead of insisting on a centre-left Third Front, as an alternative to the National Democratic Alliance.
Bureau Report