Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has said the Samajwadi party is “ready” for mid-term polls and also blamed Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh for the country’s difficult economic situation.
Mr Yadav at the same time said the Samajwadi party, which has 22 MPs in Lok Sabha, is supporting the UPA government to keep communal forces at bay but ruled out the possibility of his party joining the UPA ministry at the Centre.
The BJP on its part accused SP of entering into a deal with the UPA government and playing the “communal card” to justify its support to it at the Centre while the CPI(M) did not see any prospect of early elections after the Trinamul pulled out of UPA. “As far as (mid-term) polls are concerned, SP is ready... Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has clearly stated that SP has always taken steps to keep communal forces at bay,” Mr Akhilesh Yadav told reporters in Mathura on Saturday.
Discounting the possibility of joining the UPA government, he said, “With limited time left for the government who will want to join it?”
The Samajwadi Party had participated in the Bharat Bandh on September 20 to protest against the FDI in multi-brand retail and hike in diesel prices.
In an apparent dig at the Prime Minister for his remark that “money does not grow on trees” in his address to the nation on Friday, he said, “If an economist of his stature gives such an answer, then we have to certainly take note of it.”