Lucknow/ New Delhi: Offering balm to the
Congress, Samajwadi Party on Sunday said there was no threat to
the UPA government despite DMK`s decision to pull out its
ministers and the party will continue to extend support to it.
"There is no threat to the government. It is not in
minority," SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters in
Lucknow when asked about the DMK`s decision.
"SP has and will continue to support the government at
the Centre," he said.
Asked whether the SP, which has 22 members in Lok
Sabha, will join the government, Yadav was noncommittal,
saying it was a hypothetical question.
"There is no discussion or talk going on about SP
joining the government," he said.
He sought to downplay the DMK-Congress stand-off over
seat-sharing in Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
It is not an important issue. "Negotiations are going
on between the leaders of the two parties. Infact, Congress
leaders have reached there last night and are in talks. There
are differences over seat-sharing and posts but efforts are on
to sort out the matter," he said.
"It has to be seen whether the resignation submitted
by DMK ministers is accepted or not. In a coalition such
things do happen," he said.
On being asked whether he had any conversation with
the Prime Minister regarding joining the government, Yadav
said there were no such talks.
"Although we have telephonic conversations off and on.
Three days back, the PM called me and said he wanted to
discuss other important issues, including the stand-off in the
Lok Sabha and country`s security," Yadav said.
In Delhi, SP spokesperson and general secretary Mohan
Singh described the DMK`s decision to pull out of the
Congress-led government as an "internal tussle for
power-sharing" between the two parties.
"I have been watching DMK since 1980. Among the
political parties it is one of the hard bargainers. So, in a
few days it can reach some understanding. At the moment, we
are only playing the role of a silent spectator," Singh said.
Making it clear that the SP would support the
government, Singh said the party did not want the country to
face another general election so soon and it would keep this
factor in mind while taking any decision.
"We had given issue-based support to UPA-II as we did
not want political instability. We do not want a poor country
like ours to have frequent elections which involve a lot of
expenditure," Singh said.
PTI
