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Kalyan rules out joining Union Cabinet

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh has ruled out his joining the Union Cabinet or quitting his post in the wake of controversies surrounding his leadership in the state.

Talking to the media, Kalyan Singh, however, asserted that no one, including he himself, ''is indispensable in the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party is run by collective leadership and governments are also run by the spirit of collective leadership''.

Singh, who was in New Delhi amid speculation about possible change of leadership in Uttar Pradesh, met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee twice in connection with the financial crunch being faced by the state and said no politics was discussed during the meeting.

He said the central leadership had made it ''very clear'' that there would be no change of leadership in both Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. His government was ''very stable and strong'', he added.

As far as reports of differences with the ruling coalition partners are concerned, Singh said he has convened a high-level meeting with the allies on January 11 in Lucknow to iron out all differences. He denied any communication gap with the allies.

Visibly upset over repeated queries about a possible change of guard in Lucknow, Singh retorted, ''All such speculation is baseless and I don't think there are any differences over the leadership in the party.''

Singh, who is in New Delhi along with Lok Tantrik Congress president Naresh Aggarwal, Jan Tantrik Bahujan Samaj Party president Narendra Singh and two BJP leaders, Lalji Tandon and Hukum Singh, claimed that his visit was ''totally non-political''.

UNI

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