Samajwadi Party, whose support is crucial for survival of the government, held a meeting of its MPs in which some Lok Sabha members were conspicuous by their absence.
NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party, whose support is crucial for survival of the government, on Friday held a meeting of its MPs in which some Lok Sabha members were conspicuous by their absence.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav sought to play down the absence of MPs, saying 12 of the 39 Lok Sabha members of the party could not attend the meeting due to various reasons.
The party issued a three-line whip asking its members to be present in the Lok Sabha on July 21 and 22 and vote in favour of the government.
However, one of the absentee MPs, Munnawar Hassan, said he would defy the party whip and vote against the government. He claimed that seven more MPs were with him in this endeavour.
Asked about the absentees, party general secretary Amar Singh said that Ateeq Ahmad and Afzal Ansari were in jail, while there was a wedding in the family of Saleem Iqbal Shervani. Another MP, Usha Verma, could not come because of a bereavement in her family. S Bangarappa, MP from Shimoga in Karnataka too did not turn up.
Two other MPs -- Rajbabbar and Beni Prasad Verma -- have been suspended from the party, while Jai Prakash, Munawwar Hasan and Rajnarayan Budholiya have said they would not support the government.
"We do not bother about these people going away. We have managed more people than these from major parties," Amar Singh claimed when asked to comment on the absentees. He, however, declined to elaborate.
Expressing confidence that the UPA government would get the support of over 280 MPs during the trust vote, Singh claimed that they were trying to take the figure upwards.
"Our strength is at present 280-plus. We want to take it to at least 290," he said.
The government needs the support of 271 members to win the trust vote in the Lok Sabha.
Friday's meeting was significant as it was held ahead of the trust vote to finalise the party's strategy in the trial of strength.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, Mohan Singh and Revati Raman Singh, who had not attended the last Parliamentary Party meeting of SP, were present at Friday's deliberations.
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