With the Congress cold-shouldering the Samajwadi Party’s offer to support the UPA government, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced on Monday that his party would sit in the Opposition bench in the Parliament.
“Neither the Congress has sought our support nor the SP was going to support the UPA government. Some Congress leaders have already said they do not need our support. So we, too, are not interested in joining the government and will sit in the Opposition,” said Yadav.
“The party will support the UPA government on certain issues rather than playing a role of a blind Opposition,” he said. According to Yadav, the party leaders would soon meet to review the results of the Lok Sabha polls.
Yadav and his party general secretary Amar Singh had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Sunday and had assured their support in the formation of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. The Congress, however, has shown no interest.
On the performance of his party in the Lok Sabha polls, Yadav said: “The people of state were with the SP. But we failed to achieve the desired number of seats in the elections due to several lapses. We will certainly review the reason behind our losses in some of the constituencies where we were defeated by a narrow margin.”
He thanked the people of Mainpuri for voting for him and assured them that he would take steps to develop the basic infrastructure of the region.
Yadav returned to Mainpuri from Delhi on Monday and visited the office of the Returning Officer to collect his election certificate. He had won the Mainpuri seat defeating BSP’s Vinay Shakya by a margin of over 1.73 lakh votes.
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