SP, Cong`s love-hate relationship continues

New Delhi: The love-hate relationship between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress continued on Thursday with Mulayam Singh Yadav joining hands with Left parties and the TDP to demand a Supreme Court probe into coal allocations.

Yadav`s announcement today of bringing together non-NDA Opposition on the stalling of Parliament comes a day after his party`s government in Uttar Pradesh passed an order for providing interruption-free power in Amethi and Rae Bareli districts on the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Observers feel that there has been a kind of flip-flop in Samajwadi Party`s attitude towards the Congress. The SP, which supports the UPA government from outside, however, fought the Congress vehemently in UP where it captured power earlier this year. Later the party came to the rescue of Congress during the Presidential election when it was almost cornered by another ally Trinamool Congress. The SP first joined hands with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to announce the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President A P J Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, only to ditch the TMC chief two days later by backing Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate. This short-lived bonhomie with Banerjee was preceded by Yadav`s high profile attendance at the third anniversary celebrations of the UPA-II government at the Prime Minister`s residence. After some special recognition at the bash, Yadav had declared that he was with the UPA on the Presidential polls only to surprise everyone when he came out in support of Banerjee`s candidate briefly. The Opposition has often alleged that Congress uses the CBI to rein in Yadav whenever SP`s support is needed. Yadav and his kin are facing charges of holding disproportionate assets and the agency is probing the matter. PTI