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Offering balm to the Congress, the Samajwadi Party said there was no threat to the United Progressive Alliance government despite the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam'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. "The 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 PM 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 the 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.