Jaitley rubbishes talk of BJP-SP nexus

Lucknow, Dec 22 (UNI) The BJP today dismissed any suggestions of it having a 'tacit' alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh terming this an ''immature way'' of seeing politics Briefing newspersons after the inaugural session of the day-long National Executive meeting, BJP Spokesman Arun Jaitley, refuting strongly any possibility of a BJP-SP nexus, said this was the result of ''an immature way of seeing politics'' in the welcome offered to top BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani upon their arrival in the capital today.

''Mr Vajpayee is a former Prime Minister and Mr Advani the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and protocol requires that they be accorded a welcome befitting their status,'' he said, adding it was ''wrong to mix politics with protocol.'' Mr Jaitley asserted that the BJP and SP were ''poles apart'' as politically and ideologically, the BJP negated most of the beliefs of the latter and also his party was the ''principal political party'' in Uttar Pradesh.

''Those who see alignments might find their invention 'crispy' but one should not confuse with protocol gestures with politics,'' he said.

To queries from reporters that such ''protocol gestures'' were not offered to leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, Mr Jaitley said he would not comment upon individuals.

''All I can say is that Mr Mulayam Singh is eligible for protocol gestures when he is out of his state as Chief Minister of the state,'' he noted.

UNI MCN-KAS Vd RAI1548