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INDIA SUNDAY TIMES OF New Delhi, January 11, 2004 7

Arunachal protests: Four student organisations here have Younger Gandhis: Will or will they not join politics? decided to boycott the LS polls and assembly by-polls. PTI AFP By Mahendra Ved Both Priyanka and Rahul had TIMES NEWS NETWORK campaigned during the last gen- Sonia kick-starts eral election. Subsequently, New Delhi: Congress president Priyanka has been working in Sonia Gandhi on Friday refused Amethi on behalf of her mother. campaign in UP to answer for the umpteenth time But nobody in the party is talk- media queries if her children, Khurja (UP): Congress on Satur- ing since Sonia herself has re- Priyanka Vadra and Rahul Gand- day virtually kick-started its cam- hi, would join the party or contest peatedly said that it was for her paign for the elections the Lok Sabha elections. children to decide. Senior leader in the politically important state However, going by the persist- Pranab Mukherjee, pressed for of , which is vital to ent clamour among the party answer, far from being amused, its bid for return to power, with leaders and workers alike, and an found the question ‘funny.’ party president Sonia Gandhi assessment credited to those close The party wants to spring a sur- launching a mass contact pro- to her, this may be the right time prise on the eve of the polls, and gramme in the Jat-dominated to induct the younger Gandhis. Congressmen argue that this ele- western part of the state. In all probability,Priyanka and ment is essential to its strategic Sonia interacted with a cross- Rahul may be drafted for cam- planning. section of people on her way to paign and perhaps, also fielded in Outside the Congress, political Bullandshahar. She also enquired the Lok Sabha polls. analysts have suggested that the about their grievances and as- There has been an old proposal younger Gandhis should have sured they would be solved soon. that they should contest from con- made up their mind long ago. If ‘‘Congress is launching its stituencies close to Amethi, or they decided to take the plunge, go mass-contact programme in view those placed strategically across through the mill as social workers of the forthcoming Lok Sabha Uttar Pradesh, to ensure victo- before taking the political course, polls.” “Sonia has special interest ries. Alternatively, they could be perhaps with elections not in the state as she represents it,’’ fielded from different states to co- around. That would make their Swedish prime minister Goran Persson shakes hands with Congress senior Congress leader Salman ordinate the campaign effectively. entry in public life credible. president Sonia Gandhi prior to a meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. Khurshid said. PTI Kalyan is in a position to bargain By Smita Gupta What they want who had put his foot down. TIMES NEWS NETWORK Vajpayee had then indicat- ed he was not prepared to for- New Delhi: A fortnight after give his former colleague former Uttar Pradesh chief who had criticised the BJP- minister greet- led government party,saying ed the Prime Minister on his it was run by ‘‘retired offi- birthday, the speculation cers, a spineless DPM and a about the former’s ‘‘home- tired PM’’. coming’’ continues. BJP sources say the prob- But now, it is just the re- lem is two-fold: The BJP verse: It is the PM himself wants Kalyan Singh to make who appears interested in an ‘‘unconditional’’ return, Kalyan Singh’s return. The •Kalyan wants full only people who knew about possibly after tendering charge of UP some sort of an apology to the December 25 meeting the PM and his colleagues; •Vajpayee now wants were the PM, his secretary the former CM and Kalyan to return Shiv Kumar, senior UP Rashtriya Kranti Party leader Lalji Tandon and se- leader wants to come back on •Mulayam doesn’t want curity personnel, who al- his terms, that is, full charge Kalyan to go lowed Kalyan Singh through. of UP. Long-time UP watchers At the state level, BJP state party is exercising the great- say that if the former UP CM unit members have been in est caution on the subject: returns to the BJP, the party touch with Kalyan Singh. The official line is that there could move to the number For instance, on his birthday is no formal proposal from one position, and expect to on January 5, Union minis- either side. There is also an win around half of UP’s 80 ter of state for home effort to downplay the Vaj- Lok Sabha seats, a number Swami Chinamaynanda payee-Kalyan Singh meeting that would bring the BJP called on him — the minister on December 25. closer to its ambition of re- was quoted first as saying But the fact is that when turning to power. Currently, that he had gone on the PM’s an effort to re-induct Kalyan the BJP has 25 MPs in the LS. behalf; later, the BJP denied Singh was made in May last And if the BSP and the Con- that Chinmaynanda had year and party MPs Di- gress come to an electoral made any such statement, nanath Mishra and Balbir arrangement, they would be saying he had gone on his Punj were asked by Deputy in the number-two position, own. PM L K Advani to act as in- pushing the Samajwadi Par- At the central level, the termediaries, it was the PM ty down to number three. No alliance with Congress: Ajit Singh New Delhi: A day after of the Mulayam Singh-led Friday at her residence. meeting with Congress pres- coalition government in UP, Singh’s party was an ally of ident Sonia Gandhi, which is being supported by the Congress in the 1999 Lok Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit the Congress from outside. Sabha elections too, but had Singh on Saturday said his The former Union minis- parted ways to join Prime party could not ally with the ter,who parted ways with the Minister Atal Bihari Vajpay- Congress-led front as it was BJP-led government midway, ee’s Cabinet. working to strengthen a sec- said talks were on with CPI- Talking to reporters after ular coalition led by the M leader H S Surjeet, Janata meeting with Sonia, Singh Samajwadi Party in Uttar Dal (S) leader H D Deve Gow- said, ‘‘This is an era of coali- Pradesh. da about the formation of a tion politics, at national, re- “That is not possible at third front. “This also has to gional and state level. Every all,” Singh told NDTV, be discussed with Mulayam one will have to align with adding that the RLD had Singh and other allies in Ut- someone somewhere. I came close ties with Samajwadi tar Pradesh,” he said. to discuss the same with the Party in UP. The RLD is part Singh had met Sonia on Congress president.” PTI

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