The green signal by the SP, whose 39 Lok Sabha MPs could be crucial to the government in the event of a trial of strength in Parliament, today came as a big relief for the Congress-led UPA government the Left began the countdown to pullout. According to Congress sources, the SP evinced no interest in joining the government at the Centre.

Amar Singh also told reporters that there was a “nefarious propaganda” against the SP about its joining the government. “We are not wheeler-dealers on a matter of national interest. We are not joining the Cabinet. We are also not putting any conditions. Our move is in the national interest,” said Singh who later attended the function to celebrate the US National Day organised by Ambassador David Mulford.

“Their main concern was to ally with the Congress in UP and we are ready for seat-sharing arrangements in the next Lok Sabha election. The quantum of this arrangement will be worked out later,” said a senior Congress leader.

Sources also added that the ruling party at the Centre did not offer any help “whatsoever” to the SP leadership so far as the cases against Singh and Yadav were concerned. The SP, which had earlier joined the Left parties to organise agitations against the nuclear deal, apparently re-calibrated its approach given the political compulsions on the home turf.

Following National Security Advisor M K Narayanan’s briefing to SP leaders on the nuclear deal on Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement allaying their apprehensions. On Thursday SP leaders called former President APJ Abdul Kalam to seek his views on the nuclear deal, which set the stage for the rapprochement between the SP and the Congress.

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