February 5 New Delhi/Lucknow
Four years later, with elections around the corner, an isolated Kalyan Singh is making frantic attempts to get votes. Today the former UP chief minister today issued a statement saying he took moral responsibility for the Babri Masjid demolition.
Kalyan added that he and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav share a political friendship, though not a formal, to stop BJP from coming to power and to free the citizens of UP from the rule of BSP.
He said Muslims have the right to feel pride in Islam.
Kalyan's explanation comes after Mulayam Singh found himself losing his core vote bank -- the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh, who constitutes 16 per cent of the total vote in the state.
So from courting maulanas in Lucknow to visiting the Deoband Ilamic seminary, SP leaders are now trying to salvage their secular image.
"I do not need character certificate from anyone," said Mulayam Singh Yadav.
But Kalyan's efforts to regain political relevance and gain a foothold for at least his son and SP's way of getting some of the significant Lodh vote that Kalyan commandeers may just fall flat.
The Congress, although fighting for survival in UP, is driving a hard bargain in a seat sharing arrangement and has flatly refused to share the same platform as Kalyan. The left on the other hand has made it clear that they will go with the BSP.
The political pix is confusing. New political fault lines are emerging -- new alliances may blossom. But in the post poll scenario, most fault lines may disappear and power may become the key agenda.
