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Journalism of Courage
Asserting that its flock of MPs was intact, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday said not a single lawmaker had deserted the party on the issue of SP’s support to the UPA government on the India-US nuclear deal.
Those airing their views against the party had already left it some three months ago, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said.
“Not even a single MP has deserted the party and the likes of Munawwar Hasan and Jai Prakash Rawat who have come out against it (the deal) has left the party three months ago,” he said.
On another MP Rajnarayan Budholiya voicing his staunch opposition to the nuclear deal, Yadav said he had been expelled from the party long back.
To a question, he said, “the claim of Munawwar Hasan that he was offered Rs 25 crore by the SP is not true as the party has never indulged in such acts.”
Yadav said he would like veteran CPI leader A B Bardhan to tell them who were offering money to MPs to lure them ahead of the trust vote.
In an oblique reference to the BSP, the SP chief alleged cases against some MPs lodged in jails were being withdrawn overnight to woo them to its side.
Ruling out the possibility of his party joining the UPA government in case of its winning the trust vote, Yadav said the SP had extended support to the coalition in the national interest.
While supporting the Manmohan Singh government, the SP told it firmly that any compromise on nation’s foreign policy and sovereignty on the nuke issue would not be tolerated, he said.
The UPA government readily agreed to this, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said.
To a question, the SP leader did not rule out electoral tie-up with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh saying its support to the UPA on issues of national interest would continue.
