New Delhi: Political realignment at the Centre is clearly on the cards with the Congress trying to secure the support of other parties to save the United Progressive Alliance Government. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh on Monday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the backdrop of an increasingly belligerent Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee forcing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Dinesh Trivedi as the Railway Minister.
Even though Mulayam Singh Yadav ruled out joining the Congress-led UPA Government, he added that his party would keep on extending its support to the Centre. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Mulayam reiterated that there was "no question of joining the UPA" as the Congress had not invited him yet.
"The Congress is running a coalition government at the Centre. We are backing it. The Congress has not invited us to join the government, neither have we asked for it," said Mulayam flanked by his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary.
Refusing to comment on Dinesh Trivedi quitting as the Railway Minister, Mulayam said that it was the UPA's internal affair.
But in another crucial development indicating that Mulayam was moving closer to the Congress, the Samajwadi Party voted with the government to defeat the amendment motions moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Biju Janata Dal while the Trinamool Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party MPs abstained.
Mulayam also dismissed talks of Third Front, saying that there was no move by the regional parties to come together to challenge the two main coalition - the UPA and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Just a few days ago Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had made a statement that the Samajwadi Party could join the Central Government even though the Congress would oppose the party in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The UPA enjoys a wafer-thin majority in the Lok Sabha and has been in touch with the Samajwadi Party, which has 22 Lok Sabha MPs and could provide the perfect cushion to the Congress against a maverick ally like the Trinamool Congress.
Sources have told CNN-IBN that senior Samajwadi Party leaders are in talks with the Congress and the party may even join the Central Government after the Congress versus Trinamool Congress tussle is over.
The Congress has been looking for allies as Mamata Banerjee has been vetoing crucial reform measures and in an unprecedented move also forced its own MP Dinesh Trivedi to quit as the Railway Minister for announcing passenger fare hike in all the classes in the budget.
The UPA has the support of 274 MPs in the Lok Sabha with the Congress (204), Trinamool Congress (19), Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (18), Nationalist COngress Party (9), Rashtryia Lok Dal (5), Nationali Conference (3) and others (16). At least 50 MPs belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party (21), Samajwadi Party (22), Rashtriya Janata Dal (4) and Janata Dal (Secular) (3) extend outside support to the UPA.
The Opposition has 261 MPs with 151 belonging to the NDA and the remaining 65 from the CPI (M) (16), CPI (4), BJD (14), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(9), Telugu Desam Party (6) and others (16). In the NDA, the BJP has the maximum number of MPs at 114 followed by the Janata Dal (United) (20), Shiv Sena (11), Shiromani Akali Dal (4) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (2)
In the Rajya Sabha the UPA has 97 MPs with 25 others supporting from the outside while the NDA has 66 members. The Left Front has 26 MPs and other smaller parties account for 19.
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