This refers to the editorial, “Walk the talk, for once” (March 29). Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is a hard-nosed, regional politician with considerable caste-based support. Of late, he seems to have been pushed into an unenviable position of having to manage the contradiction between his party's interests and his own.
His party's interests lie in opposing the Congress but oddly enough, Mr Yadav can ill-afford to do anything that will threaten the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre.
The stranglehold of the Union Government on the now-off-now-on CBI inquiry into the disproportionate assets case against him is too real to be ignored. Mr Yadav is at liberty to withdraw support, but he knows it will only be at his own peril. He is, therefore, doing the next best thing— criticising the Congress before his supporters while lending support to it inside Parliament. The collateral loss of credibility apparently does not bother him as long as his vote-bank is kept in good humour.
