Senior SP leader Shahid Siddiqui said that the party wishes to support the UPA on principles and issues.
Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday strongly condemned Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh’s remark, saying that its support to the United Progress Alliance (UPA) is not for barter.
Reacting to the Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who earlier in the day had said he had no objection to SP joining the government, Senior SP leader Shahid Siddiqui said their support is one on principles and on issues.
“He (Digvijay Singh) has said that he has no objection to SP joining the government. I have objection to this word objection. Because when he had objection to our support we were supporting the UPA government. We have been supporting the UPA government for the past seven years. Our support is not based give and take.
“Our support is not for barter. Our support is one on principles and on issues. And whenever we feel that any step of UPA is against the people or not in line with secular values then we do oppose it,” said Siddiqui.
Siddqui further said that his party would not like to be used by the Congress party as a replacement of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“We have no problem with Mamata Banerjee. We have great respect for Mamata ji and we will not like to be used in a political chess game against Mamata Banerjee,” said Siddqui.
Singh, had earlier on Sunday, said that he had no problem against SP joining the UPA government, adding that his party was grateful for their support.
Speculations were rife that Samajwadi Party, which has 22 Lok Sabha members, may replace the UPA government’s main ally, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after serious differences emerging between the Congress and the TMC over the Railway budget proposal of hiking the passenger fares.
TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack her party man and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi over the issue.
At present, the TMC with 19 Lok Sabha members is the largest ally of the UPA fold.
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