New Delhi, September 20: Samajwadi Party on Wednesday indicated its support to the UPA government, saying that doing so was necessary to ward off the prospect of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi taking over as prime minister.
Spelling out his party's stance, senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav criticized Congress on a number of counts, but said the SP will have to come to UPA's assistance because of the "secular compulsion" to stop the BJP. "This government would have fallen long ago. Many parties share our view on it (corruption, price rise and unilateralism in alliance). But we cannot forget Gujarat riots and how the state sponsored them. We have seen that face of BJP. So, we have to think twice before taking a step lest it helps such forces in coming to power," he told TOI.
Ramgopal, Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother who is also the leader of SP in Rajya Sabha, stressed that but for this compulsion dogging the "secular" parties, UPA government would have been history by now.
"The consideration to thwart BJP's advance has become greater in the wake of a big section of the saffron outfit wanting to project Narendra Modi as PM," he further said.
Ramgopal also clarified that SP had not called a meeting of its parliamentary board, a clear indication that despite its protest against diesel price hike and FDI in multi-brand retail, Mulayam is in no hurry to review his support to UPA.
When asked about the UP government's relations with the UPA, Ramgopal noted the generous central help to the party-ruled state, underlining another factor that may have dulled SP's hostility towards Congress after a bitter assembly campaign. "There is cordial relationship since SP has come to power. The Centre is positive. The Centre has given more than eligible money for our schemes. If our state government performs, then we feel no central ministry is rigid about the grants. We hope that the state will continue to get central help," he said.
Central assistance is crucial for the SP to implement populist promises it had made in the poll campaign to trump BSP in the assembly elections.
Mamata Banerjee's revolt against Congress has placed Mulayam Singh Yadav at the heart of the debate, with his 22-MP flock crucial, if not indispensable, to UPA's survival. The indication of a rescue act for the Centre does not sit well with the assessment that Samajwadis would gain from early elections because they are strongly placed in Uttar Pradesh. Observers attribute Mulayam's magnanimity towards Congress to the realization that the Centre will survive Mamata's mutiny anyway.
However, Ramgopal stressed on anti-BJPism. "The government is in crisis after TMC's exit... but communal forces can take advantage of the situation. We don't want to be accused of bringing down the government and helping the communal forces," he said.
He conceded the irony of 'communal vs secular' politics. "Whether Congress tries to exploit it or not, it does gain from the compulsion of secular parties," he said.
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