Lucknow, December 20: After the Lok Sabha debacle, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan are once again set to join hands.
Come January, the trio will likely address a rally of the minorities in the Muslim- dominated Khalilabad town of Sant Kabir Nagar district in eastern UP.
The implementation of the Rangnath Mishra commission report recommending 15 per cent reservation for the minorities will be a major agenda for the rally.
“Such meetings are in the offing. The dates and programme of the meetings in various places are being worked out,” said Rajendra Chowdhary, the SP spokesperson.
“Social justice for the Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians has always been an important issue for our party. In 2006, the government led by our party had passed a resolution in the state Assembly for the amendment of Article 341 of the Constitution, recommending that the benefit of reservation should be extended to those from the Dalit community, who have converted to Islam and Christianity.”
The trio had joined hands ahead of the last Lok Sabha polls in May 2009. After the poll debacle, the three leaders charted a different path.
Lalu and Paswan did not campaign in the Ferozabad Lok Sabha bypoll where Dimple Yadav, daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav, lost to Raj Babbar of the Congress.
SP’s MUSLIM FACE
The party’s new Muslim mascot, Abu Asim Azmi, will tour the Muslim-dominated districts of the state from December 21.
“My programme in UP was delayed due to the Maharashtra Assembly session in Nagpur. I will be in UP on December 21 and will address two meetings in Azamgarh district; one at Lalganj and the other at Saraimeer. My next meeting will be at Allahabad on December 29,” said Azmi.
“I will also visit Meerut and Saharanpur districts. I have also been getting a lot of calls from Rampur, Moradabad, Ferozabad and Uttarakhand,” he added.
——Agencies