BSP to continue support to UPA, SP says govt stable

Mulayam Singh Yadav's SP and Mayawati's BSP, both supporting the UPA government from outside, vouched for the government's stability after the DMK pulled out. Mayawati asserted the BSP's continued support, while the SP leadership said the UPA remains stable anyway because "no one has pulled out".

Mayawati told reporters , "We will continue to support the government so that non-secular powers don't get strengthened."

The SP said that the DMK hadn't yet communicated its decision to Parliament. "No one has pulled out, this is only to blackmail the government. It is stable. The DMK has not given any letter to the President," said Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav.

The SP has 22 Lok Sabha MPs and the BSP 21, enough to reassure a government that would otherwise have been reduced to a substantial minority with the pullout of the DMK, which has 18 members.

It is possible, however, SP sources confided, that Mulayam could revise the party's stance if and when the DMK does communicate its decision formally to the President. Party leaders say the SP is not averse to early elections. What has restrained it from threatening the stability of the UPA is the fact that it could mean giving an edge to the BSP, its principal rival. "Our pulling out could be electorally projected by the BSP as playing into the hands of the BJP. This is something that Mulayam cannot afford," confided a SP leader.

Congress leaders, however, believe SP is not ready to go to polls. The SP government in UP, they reason, would like to complete laptop distribution and generate public support in the backdrop of deteriorating law and order.

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