Mulayam could support Congress in UP… no, he 'didn’t say' that!

It was rather ironical that around the time Rahul Gandhi was mocking at the Samajwadi Party’s “false” election promises at a rally here, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters in Hamirpur that he could support the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. The SP chief, however, retracted his statement later, saying that the media had distorted it.

TV channels played and replayed Mulayam’s statement continuously for hours on Wednesday, wherein the Yadav chieftain was clearly heard saying that the SP would support the Congress if he saw the BJP coming to power in UP. The SP chief made the statement to reporters after addressing a rally in Hamirpur.

He made the offer during an interaction in response to a question about Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh’s assertion that post-poll the party would not get into any alliance.

On realising the faux pas, Mulayam on his return to Lucknow hurriedly called reporters to his residence and promptly denied having made that statement.

“I was talking about support in Delhi (to the UPA regime at the Centre). The media has distorted my statement,” he said. “There is no question of supporting any party as the SP itself is going to form the government in UP,” the SP chief added.