About four years after Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh had sworn revenge for being “humiliated” at a dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the SP general secretary along with party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav drove to 10, Janpath again—this time to let bygones be bygones and start a fresh chapter of friendship by offering their support for the Indo-US nuclear deal.

They were coming straight from 7, Race Course Road where they had gone to pledge support to the nuclear deal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Three hours later, a smug Congress spokesperson, Shakeel Ahmed, appreciated the gesture with a couplet by Bashir Badr: “Dushmani jam kar karo lekin itni gunjayeesh rahe, ki jab kabhi ham doshta ban jayen to sharminda na hon. (Be enemies but always leave some room so that when we become friends again we are not embarrassed).”

While both sides remained tight-lipped about the details of the “deal” over the deal, Congress sources said it was limited to the affirmation of a tie-up between the two parties in Uttar Pradesh. With Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati turning on the heat on SP leaders on their home turf, the SP apparently did not have much bargaining power.

“We have been opposing it (the nuclear deal) as we did not have new facts (to allay our apprehensions) regarding the deal. But now these new details have come,” Yadav told reporters emerging from his meeting with the Prime Minister.

He added that “the entire nation would be satisfied” with the clarification given by the PMO in a statement last Wednesday. Yadav also expressed hope that even his UNPA colleagues would agree that national interest held higher priority for him than political interest. “The entire country would have been satisfied. I hope even our UNPA colleagues would agree,” said the SP chief in response to a question whether UNPA would support the deal along with him.

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