Keeping its option open to withdraw support from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the Samajwadi Party (SP) leadership today expressed “full faith” in Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they would be able to resolve the tussle between the two sides.
Coming out of a meeting with the PM, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said: “Why are you (press) talking about support withdrawal? We have full faith in Gandhi and Singh. We are concerned about secular alliances and fight against terrorism.” Thirty-five SP MPs had supported the UPA government in the trust vote last year.
Earlier in the day, Yadav appealed to Gandhi and the PM in a statement: “Still there is time for your intervention to restore good relations and save UP as well as the whole country from communal and casteist forces.”
At the same time, Yadav announced after the meeting that his party’s parliamentary board would meet sometime after January 17 to decide the future course of action. Not ruling out the possibility of pulling out of the UPA, Singh said: “You read the last paragraph of our statement (it talks about intervention). It should answer all your queries.”
While SP general secretary Amar Singh also tried to play down its unilateral announcement of candidates in 51 seats pointing out that the party has not fielded candidates in constituencies won by the Congress, Mulayam claimed, “I am satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with PM. Whenever I meet the PM, I am satisfied.”
But before meeting, the SP leaders today read out a three-page list of various allegations, especially against Digvijay Singh, the Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, to build a case of betrayal by the Congress. While Yadav read out the statement claiming they have supported the Congress-led UPA government for national and party interest, he also didn’t forget to mention that his MPs didn’t even get proper accommodation from the government.
The ongoing spat between the Congress and SP also reached the corporate turf today as Yadav announced: “I am neither concerned about the tussle between Anil and Mukesh (Ambanis) nor about the (KG basin) gas pricing issue. But Digvijay Singh had sought ticket for the wife of Sandeep Tandon, who is a senior official of Mukesh’s company. Digvijay’s son, too works for Mukesh’s company.”
Digvijay Singh was unavailable in Delhi for comments.
