Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has ruled out the possibility of his party withdrawing support from the UPA government. Mr Yadav, however, complained of his party not having been treated well by the Congress.
The SP had extended outside support to the UPA government after the 2009 general elections.
The SP has 22 Lok Sabha MP and speculation is on for a while that the Congress might find doing business with Mr Yadav’s party after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections better than that with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress, which has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The SP chief told a news channel that though “the Congress is not treating us well, our politics is based on principles and we will not give that up”. Mr Yadav stated that his party would continue to support the UPA government and qualified his statement by saying that the reason for doing so is to keep communal forces at bay.
To a pointed question if his party would support any attempt to bring down the government at the Centre, Mr Yadav told the news channel: “There are only two years left for the next general elections, so why topple? We will not withdraw support.”
The SP chief also sounded confident of coming back in power in UP after the Assembly elections and also clarified that he was in fine health, in an indication that he would be the chief ministerial candidate of the party.
Mr Yadav ruled out taking rest amid speculation that his son and party’s state unit chief Akhilesh Yadav could take the charge of the party.