RLM to take on BJP, Cong

NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (PTI) — Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) leaders Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav today held discussions on the creation of a third front to take on the BJP and the Congress authorising the Samajwadi Party chief to talk to the like-minded parties for roping them in.

The leaders, who met for over 90 minutes in the absence of the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, who had to cancel his trip because of flight problem, agreed to meet again shortly to take up the idea.

"We have decided to fight communal BJP and the Sangh Parivar which have unleashed anarchy among the minorities and Dalits as also the corrupt Congress, which is misleading minorities through pseudo-secularism," RLM spokesman Amar Singh told reporters after the meeting.

Asked to comment on the Left parties’ stand that they could not join hands with a party whose leader was scam-tainted, he said the former Bihar Chief Minister, facing charges in the fodder scandal, had already said "it was for West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to decide. Moreover, we have excellent rapport with the CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet".

He said a concrete proposal could not be taken on the future course of action the RLM would adopt for strengthening the front in the absence of Mr Vaghela. "We will meet again shortly," he said.

Mr Singh made a fresh attack on the Congress for its remarks that Hinduism was the only guarantee of secularism in the country and accused the party of misleading the minorities through "pseudo-secularism".

"Since both Congress and the BJP are speaking the same voice by raising the false slogan on Hindutva, it is high time the two parties merged", he said.

He said the morcha would hold a rally at Lucknow on February 8 to highlight the "all round failure" of the BJP government at the Centre and to protest rise in prices of essential commodities supplied through the public distribution system.

He said he would address a similar rally at Varanasi on February 5.

Referring to the statement of Madan Lal Khurana, who recently resigned from the Union Cabinet, that the Bajrang Dal was responsible for the Orissa incident, Mr Singh said Union Ministers George Fernandes and L.K. Advani should be "ashamed" as they had given a clean chit to the Bajrang Dal.

On the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, he said Shiv Sena chief Bal Thakeray had acted in panic by asking Mr Joshi to step down as "his (Thackeray’s) credibility is facing erosion".

He said the morcha would oppose the division of any state for the creation of smaller states.