New Delhi:
Lalu Prasad Yadav made no bones about how he feels about Kalyan Singh. It doesn't matter to him that the former UP chief Minister and senior BJP leader is now an ally of his good friend Mulayam Singh -- the man he has chosen along with Ram Vilas Paswan to put together the so-called 'Fourth Front'.
The spark behind the fire was a comment from Kalyan Singh in an election rally on Friday where Kalyan said that he had dug a grave for the BJP and the Muslims should now put soil to fill it. On Saturday, he went a step further and said that the Babri demolition was a BJP conspiracy.
The Congress made light of Kalyan's statement with party leader Kapil Sibal saying, "Either I cry or I laugh at Kalyan."
Survival, votes and political relevance made these two former rivals join hands ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. And for now, Mulayam is standing by his new found friend.
But he seems to be the only one buying the new Kalyan avtaar. After all it will be some time before Muslims of Uttar Pradesh forget those words.