Mulayam meets Sonia Gandhi

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May 29, 2003 13:01 IST

Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

The meeting came a day after Rashtriya Lok Dal president and estranged National Democratic Alliance partner Ajit Singh met Sonia.

Singh is understood to have sought her support in the formation of a 'secular' alternative of the Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

It was a one-to-one meeting between the two leaders, which lasted for about 30 minutes, Congress sources said.

Yadav told reporters after the meeting that the situation was deteriorating day-by-day in the state and people were living in fear.

"Everybody is frightened. Uttar Pradesh is completely ruined. If UP is ruined, Hindustan is ruined. If Ajit Singh can do something, it is welcome," said the former state chief minister.

Yadav's meeting, the second in the last three months, assumes significance as it comes a day before the Congress conclave to evolve a strategy for the assembly elections in five states.

The conclave may take a decision on the issue of tie-up with like-minded political parties in states where it is weak, including Uttar Pradesh.

In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, RLD had an electoral tie-up with Congress, but it ended soon after Singh joined the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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