The Trump card seems to be slipping away from the SP chief's hands. For a party depending solely on Muslim votes, it's an hour of crisis. After the MLAs, it is now the top maulanas and the ulema who are running away from Mulayam Singh Yadav. The shift in loyalties at the last moment has derailed the Samajwadi Party bandwagon.

No wonder, Mr. Yadav has to finally bow down to the Shahi Imam Maulana Bukhari for whom he once said "Imam saheb aap imamat kariye, siyasat hamein karne dein". But even Shahi Imam, who changed three parties in the last three years, cannot change Mulayam's destiny this

time round.

The biggest surprise for Mulayam came from Markazi Madrasa - Jamia Sulfiya - of Ehle Hadees in Purvanchal.

Jamia which has been SP's trump card in eastern UP has gone the Congress way. Five other prominent madrasas in Azamgarh and Mau are with the Congress ...

While Mulayam is trying to keep his flock together, Maulana Mohd. Mia Mazhari of the Barelvi sect, has shown an Atal tilt ... Javed Habib, former president of the AMU Students Union and now the chief of the Bharatiya Majlis, too seems to prefer the Prime Minister. Even the Shia ulema have lost interest in SP.

For Mulayam, the writing is on the wall ... Maulana Asad Madani's son ... left SP to join the Congress ... 

Close on the heels of Deoband, Maulana Ali Mian, All India Muslim Personal Law Board chief, ignored SP and paid attention to Congress stalwarts ... (Source: The Pioneer, 7 September, 1999)