PATNA, February 3: Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said here today that his party would withdraw its candidates in favour of those from other United Front partners - especially the Janata Dal - wherever the latter were on a stronger wicket.Announcing this at a press conference after campaigning with Jagannath's Mishra's Bihar Jana Congress, Mulayam said the "main goal of the Samajwadi Party was to defeat the communal BJP."And to that effect, it was essential that the UF vote should not be fragmented. In Bihar, the SP is contesting in at least 18 constituencies in which JD candidates are also in the fray. And the SP is expected to wean away a section of the JD vote. When this was pointed out to him, Mulayam said: "I will be holding talks with Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav to sort out these differences." He said that "the matter would be sorted out in a couple of days."Denying that he had played Big Brother in UP and denied tickets to the JD, he said: "Let them tell me the names oftheir candidates who can win and I will give up my claim."Mulayam also charged the Rashtriya Janata Dal and its chief Laloo Prasad Yadav with fragmenting the non-BJP vote. Only yesterday, Laloo had said that reports of his "differences" with Mulayam were exaggerated. "He has his own shop, I have mine," he said. "Both of us are in the bazaar."Today, however, Mulayam was openly critical of Laloo saying that the RJD and the BJP were his enemies in the state.
