NEW DELHI, Jan 2: Former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's plans to launch the secular front on the first day of the new year have failed to take off with senior BSP leader Mayawati insisting that her party would contest all 85 seats in Uttar Pradesh.The proposed front, if at all it comes into shape, would also comprise Chandra Shekhar's Samajwadi Janata Party and Ajit Singh's Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party. The two leaders too have stakes in Uttar Pradesh but, with Mayawati adopting a rigid posture, their claims have so far been brushed aside rather disdainfully.
UP is not the only stumbling block in Laloo's plans. In Bihar too, where he has already sewed up an alliance with the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Shibu Soren group), distribution of seats among the three partners has become a problem.
Laloo, it is reliably learnt, wants to leave five seats for the Congress and another four for the JMM. The Congress had two members in the dissolved Lok Sabha. There are three other constituencies
where its candidates had stood second in the 1996 elections.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief met Congress chief Sitaram Kesri this afternoon in an effort to sort out the differences and to seek his nod for the proposed front.
The JMM, on the other hand, had just one MP in the Lok Sabha which was dissolved last month. The two parties have set their sights on more seats, but Laloo apparently is no mood to oblige them.
There is an additional problem. Both Congress and the JMM have a strong presence in south Bihar, which has inevitably led to a clash of interest between them. The two have as a result come to view each other's moves with suspicion.
Laloo also met Prime Minister I K Gujral for about an hour this morning to seek his support for the secular front.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
