Mulayam meets PM, hopes for alliance

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove "hurdles" in the way of an alliance between his party and the Congress for the Lok Sabha election.

“I have hopes in Manmohan Singh and (Congress President) Sonia Gandhi to reach a consensus for the alliance in Uttar Pradesh,” Yadav told reporters after meeting the Prime Minister.

Yadav, however, said that Congress General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, did not seem to be interested in the alliance.

“Digvijay Singh has said unwanted things about me and my party members, which are intolerable. If any one in my party would say any thing wrong about Sonia Gandhi, I will expel him from the party. I don't know why the Congress high command is tolerating such behaviour,” he said.

Yadav also said the continuation of support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government would be decided in the meeting of the party's executive committee on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Yadav told reporters his party was willing to support the Congress despite various differences but Digvijay Singh was creating one problem or the other.

"I will request Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi to intervene and resolve the matter at the earliest," he said.

"Our support to the Congress in the trust vote (in parliament in July) was in the national interest (though) they poached our legislators in Madhya Pradesh and insulted me a number of times. But Digvijay Singh does not want us to come together," Yadav said.

Yadav's remarks came after a verbal duel between Digvijay Singh and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh over seat-sharing.

Digvijay Singh on Monday said there could not be an alliance in Uttar Pradesh without "friendly fights". Amar Singh retorted: "A fight is a fight. There is nothing like a friendly fight."

"We feel the Congress has a hidden pact with the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) in Uttar Pradesh," Yadav said, referring to the state's ruling party.

To back this, he pointed out that Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar was sympathetic to Chief Minister Mayawati, the BSP chief.