New Delhi: Congress on Monday downplayed UPA outside supporter Samajwadi Party's stringent criticism of India's handling of Chinese incursion and rejected Mulayam Singh Yadav's contention that government was weak.
Samajwadi is not stalling Parliament on this issue. You must have seen even today that MPs who came into the well in the Lok Sabha are purely and purely members of BJP.
Mumbai: Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Lok Sabha MP from Rampur Jaya Prada have sought an appointment with Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan tomorrow, apparently to seek pardon for actor Sanjay Dutt.
Dutt, who has already undergone imprisonment of 18 months, was on Thursday sentenced to five years imprisonment in Mumbai serial blasts case.
New Delhi: The Congress on Monday said Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's remarks that the future belongs to coalition governments do not bother it. Besides, there was nothing new in it, he added.
New Delhi: After the DMK pull out, the Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter, today kept the government on tenterhooks demanding resignation of Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma for his controversial remarks against party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Not happy with Verma just expressing regret for his remarks, Yadav met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and later had an interaction with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who was seen talking to him with folded hands in the Lok Sabha after the House had adjourned.
A grim-looking Yadav said he has convened a meeting of SP MPs tomorrow at 9 AM. We will hear their views and then decide, he told reporters while leaving Parliament on being asked his party's stand after Verma's regret. SP has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
As Congress leaders made desperate attempts to placate Yadav, the SP chief met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, fuelling speculation of political realignment at a time when the buzz of mid-term poll gains ground.
The Samajwadi Party has started making life difficult for the ruling Congress. Buoyed by its enhanced status of being the ventilator support to a minority UPA government, the party with 22 MPs in Lok Sabha has started asking for more. It has reason to act pricey. After all, it had been waiting for the opportunity for long. Ironically though, it comes by default and a bit late in the day. The general elections are not too far away and it does not allow the party enough time to enjoy its prominence.
This time around the SP is not wasting any time in driving home the point to the Congress leadership. It has apparently become wiser after its UPA I experience. After giving the government the initial comfort of a day, the party began making its moves. It was no simple co-incidence that around the time Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath along with Finance Minister P Chidambaram asserted that the UPA was neither lame nor duck and that the Beni Prasad Verma issue was a closed chapter, the Samajwadi Party raked up the demand for the dismissal of Verma from office
New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party will take a decision on Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma's comments on Thursday, party MP Shailendra Kumar said in New Delhi.
We will take a decision on Beni Prasad's regret tomorrow (Thursday) morning at the parliamentary party meeting, Kumar said, following a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
