New Delhi: The Congress was on Sunday undecided on taking the support of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which has emerged the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance now needs just 10 more seats to get simple majority in the Lok Sabha and can do without the SP’s support.
A little after SP general secretary Amar Singh offered the party's "constructive support" to the new United Progressive Alliance government, the Congress said it was deliberating on the issue.
Congress spokesperson M Veerappa Moily told a news channel: "The Samajwadi Party had supported us at the time of the trust vote in parliament on the nuclear deal (July 2008). But they fought separately in UP and Bihar. It doesn't mean that they are away from us and we are away from them."
Moily said that internal discussion was ongoing on the SP's hand of support.
"The discussion in the party is going on to consider the SP's role in the government, which form and how," he said.
Moily re-asserted the prime minister's statement Saturday that secular forces should join hands. "We have been inviting all the secular parties to join the government," he said.
“We are for constructive support. We have always put national interest above party interest. It is up to the Congress how much support they want from us and in which form," said Singh after a meeting of SP’s parliamentary board meeting on Sunday.
"It is the prerogative of the PM to take us in the cabinet," he said.
The Congress-led UPA has won 262 in the Lok Sabha elections and need only 10 more seats to get a simple majority in the house. The SP claims the support of 26 new members, including two independents.
After the good showing by the Congress, some party leaders on Saturday had expressed unwillingness to take the SP's support in parliament. The Congress has also won 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh, confounding poll pundits.
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