By Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, July 4: After getting the Samajwadi Party on board, an elated Congress on Friday virtually dared the Left and the Opposition to topple the government.
The meetings of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday were a turning point in the history of the UPA. Their proclamation of backing the controversial nuclear deal with the US divided the anti-BJP and anti-Congress forces and boosted the morale of the Prime Minister’s supporters. The SP is now ready to seek its price for supporting the Manmohan Singh government for a few months. Shortly after the Left released a letter to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee asking him to convey the government’s decision by July 7, parliamentary affairs minister Vayalar Ravi and AICC media department chairman M. Veerappa Moily claimed separately the UPA government was stable and enjoyed a majority. "Government has the numbers, we are ready to prove it in the Lok Sabha whenever we are called up to do so," Mr Ravi said.
The Congress said Mr Mukherjee would reply to the Left’s ultimatum but remained noncommittal about the timing. Rejecting suggestions of an "unholy alliance", Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, "The SP and the Congress have never been mutually untouchable in the same sense as the Left and the BJP or the Congress and the BJP."
Asked whether the bonhomie with the SP would extend to UP, he said, "I need to emphasise that the current contextual developments were at the national level. I have said nothing at the regional level. However, once cooperation and convergence starts at the national level, it is not unnatural of it to assume wider proportions subsuming regional levels also," Mr Singhvi said.
The Congress is tight-lipped on the "give and take" formula between the government and the SP. Mr Amar Singh told reporters his party was not looking for Cabinet berths. "We are not wheeler-dealers. We are not here to join any Cabinet. All our politics is about the national interest," he said. "There was no pressure, no blackmail, no offer, no deal behind the deal, no conditionality. We have not yet given any support to the government," Mr Singh told CNN-IBN. Asked whether the SP would join the government, he said, "Absolutely not." He added, "Where is the question because I have not even said we will support the government or not."
If Congress insiders are to be believed, SP leaders have been in touch with the Prime Minister for the last few days. Mr Moily said the two SP leaders expressed their support for the nuclear deal during their meeting with the PM and reiterated their support to Dr Singh when they met Mrs Gandhi. "And we are thankful to the SP. They have acted in the best interest of the nation. Their help has been very timely," he said.
