Leaders cross party lines to honour Basu

New Delhi Jan. 27: The condolence gathering organised in memory of veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu by major Left party, witnessed leaders cutting across party lines, including the Congress, SP, AIADMK, DMK, JD(U), BJD, National Conference, Akali Dal, coming together and hailing Basu as a leader who would have impacted a turn in political events if he had become Prime Minister of the ruling United Front government in 1996. “Had Basu become the Prime Minister, the turn in political events would have been different today” — such was the refrain of speeches by several leaders, including SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akali Dal leader and former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker S.S. Atwal and Union minister and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the departed Marxist leader had shown the way as to how to run a coalition government way back in late 1960s. “In a coalition, the leader of a minority party can lead a government. It is not necessary that only the majority party can lead.” “A coalition government has to be run in accordance with the consensus emerging out of the political parties which are part of the coalition. These were issues which Basu raised as early as in 1969 when he was the deputy CM in West Bengal’s United Front government,” Mr Mukherjee said. *** SP website still has Amar name AGE correspondent Lucknow Jan. 27: Old relationships and habits die hard and the Samajwadi Party website is an example of this. The party website has not yet deleted Mr Amar Singh’s name and profile and the Thakur leader continues to be named as party general secretary and spokesman. However, it is evident that the party website has been updated after Mr Singh’s fallout with the party leadership because in the news section, the scroll clearly states that Mr Singh has resigned from party posts. Similarly, the Samajwadi Party website continues to mention Mr Janeshwar Misra as the party vice-president though the scroll displays news of his demise and cremation. The two Samajwadi Party MPs Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada also continue to find a place of prominence in the Samajwadi website. However, actor Sanjay Dutt, who also resigned as general secretary after Mr Amar Singh put in his papers earlier this month, finds no mention in the party website making it amply clear that no one in the party ever took his position seriously. Meanwhile, when questioned, a party functionary said that the party was waiting for things to consolidate before making changes in the website. “We do not want to rush into certain decisions. It will take some time before the necessary changes are made,” he explained.

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