NEW DELHI: Differences within
Samajwadi Party ranks over the number of its representatives to the Congress-SP
coordination Committee have led to postponement of its first meeting this week.
Though names of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and general
secretary Amar Singh had been initially proposed informally as representatives
to the committee, there is a feeling in the party that an old socialist hand
should also be included to make it more broad-based as far as SP is concerned.
Since the committee will be political in nature, SP sources said the
presence of a veteran party leader in it was desirable to grapple with key
decisions including those relating to seat-sharing with Congress in coming
elections.
SP leaders in Delhi and Lucknow maintained that at least
one more senior functionary should be included in the committee. "There are
several leaders who had been with the party for long. They should be given a
chance to be in the committee," a party leader said.
"He (Amar
Singh) knows most of the leaders from all parties. He is an asset but there is a
feeling that a party veteran should also be part of the committee," the leader
added.
Earlier, there were indications that besides Yadav and Singh,
party's another national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, brother of Mulayam,
would also represent SP in the committee.
SP leaders have indicated
that a formal announcement of names of its representatives to the committee
would only be made through a consensual decision.