NEW DELHI, FEB. 25. The Congress today indicated that it would try and ensure that ``that a government is not formed by or with the support of communal forces'' in Uttar Pradesh. It also made it clear that it was willing to put the past behind it in the context of its support to the Samajwadi Party. ``We don't want to be a prisoner of the past,'' said the party spokesperson, Jaipal Reddy.
The consensus at last night's informal CWC meeting appeared to be that given the arithmetic, it was unlikely that the Samajwadi Party would be able to muster the required number to cross the majority mark of 202.
The Congress also preferred to wait and watch how the situation developed on the BSP-BJP front as well as Mulayam Singh Yadav's attempts to muster the required numbers. It sought to cover its flanks by making it clear that it would not come in the way of a secular group forming the government, provided the numbers added up.
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While the party was unwilling to comment on how a government would be formed in the State - ``that is the task of the Governor'' - there was a definite view and hope that any government formed by the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, would not last a full term. To begin with, Mr. Yadav would have to engineer some defections. Then he would have to deal with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ``plan'' to flood the State with ``kar sevaks'' for building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The party's strategy also depends on the Governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri, delaying an invitation to Mr. Yadav to form the government.
Another worry the BJP is faced with is the possibility of a Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government re-issuing the Babri demolition-related notification to correct the technical flaw that has prevented the courts from framing charges against the Union Ministers, L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and Uma Bharti. But even if the worst happens, the BJP could try to make a virtue of this and reclaim the Ram temple issue.
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