Sanjay Dutt as Lucknow MP: Amar proposes, but Supreme Court yet to dispose

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced it will field actor Sanjay Dutt for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. However, whether Dutt actually contests will depend on the view the Supreme Court takes of his appeal against his conviction and six-year jail term for illegal possession of an AK-56 rifle and a 9 mm pistol.

The Supreme Court had on August 20, 2007 stayed the operation of the sentence, and granted Dutt interim bail. The final order is pending.

Lucknow is represented in the current Lok Sabha by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Announcing Dutt’s candidature, SP general secretary Amar Singh said the movie star would seek the court’s per mission to contest.

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Samajwadi Party deals Kalam trump card

To give its political decision of supporting the UPA the stamp of “national-interest” legitimacy, the Samajwadi Party today armed itself with a ringing endorsement of the Indo-US nuclear deal from former President A P J Abdul Kalam.

The SP’s Kalam announcement came hours after it got its allies in the UNPA to climb down from their strident opposition to the deal to saying they were ready for a “national debate.”

While these allies — TDP, INLD, AGP and the Jharkhand Vikas Party — stay opposed to the deal, they watched in awkward silence as SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said: “I can assure you that the UNPA will not take any step that will go against the national interest. The UNPA will also not do anything that will strengthen the communal forces (BJP) in the country.”

All the UNPA members, except the SP, have been associated with the NDA and all supported Kalam for a second term as President as well.

When Kalam had approved the deal, the BJP had distanced itself calling it his “personal opinion.”

“We had gone to seek the advice of former President Abdul Kalam, who is also a respected scientist, on the clarifications to our apprehensions provided by the PMO yesterday,” said Mulayam after his meeting with Kalam.

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