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Ajit Singh to meet Vajpayee

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh's proposed meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday rekindled speculation that his National Democratic Alliance government is continuing its efforts to strengthen its position in Parliament.

A top source in the Prime Minister's Office told rediff.com that while Singh had sought an appointment with the prime minister, "the timing is yet to be fixed."

However, rediff.com has got hold of a letter by Singh to Vajpayee requesting the latter to create "the state of Harit (green) Pradesh out of the Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Moradabad, Bijnore, Mathura, Bulandshahr and Agra districts of Uttar Pradesh."

Singh's four-page letter to Vajpayee has welcomed the latter's move in creating small states like Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. It has underscored that the creation of Harit Pradesh would greatly help the people of western Uttar Pradesh who continue to languish in poverty and backwardness.

Singh's demand for Harit Pradesh was the brainchild of his father, the late prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, who mooted the idea during the Janata Party era.

Western Uttar Pradesh is regarded as the "Jat belt" where the political writ of first Charan Singh and now his son Ajit holds sway.

But the fact that Ajit has not been able to make further significant breakthrough in western Uttar Pradesh and Vajpayee's search for allies from non-NDA parties has come in handy for both of them to satisfy their objectives.

The source in the PMO pointed out that while it would "not hurt the prime minister to give a patient hearing to Ajit Singh on what he had to say, the proposed meeting could also result in the RLD's entry into the NDA."

So while the proposed meeting between Vajpayee and Ajit Singh is to explore the feasibility of the creation of Harit Pradesh, the larger gameplan is the likely entry of the RLD into the ruling combine at the Centre.

Ajit Singh's close political aide Samar Pal pointed out that "if Chaudhary Ajit Singh were to be given a Cabinet berth (in the Vajpayee government), he would be happy. But he will sincerely like any NDA partner if the RLD does join the NDA even if he is not made a minister. After all, the allotment of ministerial portfolios is the prime minister's prerogative."

Pal's utterances made it obvious that the negotiations between the NDA and RLD leadership was in an advanced stage.

Political observers here pointed out that following Vajpayee's keeness to buttress the NDA's parliamentary strength, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh assured the RLD chief that he would convey his request for a meeting with the prime minister.

Rajnath Singh has already announced that Uttar Pradesh would go to the polls in September.

Ajit Singh's party has two MPs.

However, senior UP BJP leader Kalraj Mishra is not too enamoured of the RLD joining hands with the BJP in the state and has conveyed that it would not be possible to allot more than 20 seats to the RLD.

"But the final word about all this rests with the prime minister," Pal pointed out.

Media reports said the prime minister and his men are looking for parliamentary support from among MPs of the Trinamul Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The RLD seems to be the prime minister's latest target.

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