Mulayam gives RLD 10 LS seats

The Samajwadi Party has allotted 10 parliamentary seats to the Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Ajit Singh for the Lok Sabha polls. These include Ba...

The Samajwadi Party has allotted 10 parliamentary seats to the Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Ajit Singh for the Lok Sabha polls. These include Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Meerut and Mathura.

Addressing a press conference this morning, UP Chief Minister and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said: ‘‘We are confident of winning the maximum seats as we are the strongest force in the state,’’ and Singh endorsed it wholeheartedly. Typically, Yadav attacked the Congress saying it should shed its ‘‘illusions’’ and said it had little chance even if it managed its strategy well.

Replying to questions on whether he will support the BJP after the elections (the Left parties have made this apprehension public), Singh lashed out asking, ‘‘Would you consider the BSP a secular party then?’’ adding, ‘‘there is no difference between the BSP and BJP. They are both the same.’’

On whether he agreed with other ‘secular’ leaders like Laloo Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, who said they would support Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister, Yadav retorted: ‘‘Ask Laloo, not me.’’ He even gave a cryptic answer to a question, when would UP Assembly Speaker and BJP member, Kesri Nath Tripathi, join his party. ‘‘You have answered your own question. I’m feeling lighter now.’’