Lucknow:
Mulayam Singh Yadav, who heads the Samajwadi Party, has not been a fan of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Earlier this year, when the Congress suggested it would agree to Mr Kumar's demand for special status for Bihar, allowing him financial assistance from the centre, Mr Yadav smarted publicly.
But today, in Lucknow, he praised the Chief Minister for improving the notoriously poor law and order in Bihar, and quipped that his son, Akhilesh, who heads the UP government, could "pull a Bihar in 15 days if he wants." Safety in Uttar Pradesh has been a weak point. Mr Yadav has publicly faulted his son for that in the past; today's remarks offered a lighter touch.
Mr Yadav, who props up the minority government at the centre, has been a fractious ally lately.
Yesterday, his party took on the Congress over the Food Security Bill, which the government hopes to introduce urgently. The Samajwadi Party labelled the proposal to entitle India's poorest to more subsidized food as "anti-farmer," a criticism that forced the Congress to abandon a planned discussion on the bill with its allies last evening.
Today, Mr Yadav said that his party will study the bill over the next few weeks, a stand that could signal hope for the Congress. If the Food Security Bill is cleared by the cabinet this evening as an ordinance, it will have to be approved by parliament within six weeks of its next sitting.
Mr Yadav shot down reports today that he will aid the Congress in Uttar Pradesh by fielding weak candidates against its senior leaders. "Are you accusing us of being hand in glove with the Congress?" he snapped. He pointed out that in the last assembly election, his candidates trounced the Congress in Amethi and Rae Bareli, the turf of the Congress' first family, the Gandhis.
However, in the 2009 national election, Mr Yadav did not put up candidates against either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or her son, Rahul.