NEW DELHI, MARCH 7: The Samajwadi Party is more or less reconciled to the idea of sitting in Opposition, now that the Telugu Desam Party, an important component of the United Front, has firmly rejected its suggestion of propping a Congress-led Government at the Centre.More than anything else, the prospect of a BJP-led government at the Centre has become a cause of worry to the SP leaders. It would be after a long time that if the BJP and its allies do succeed in cobbling together a majority party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav would be out of power both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.This is a situation which party leaders may find it hard to stomach. A BJP Government at the Centre, they admit, may make the going tough for them in India's most populous State. To start with, Governor Romesh Bhandari, who has been vehemently criticised by the BJP for acting at Mulayam's behest, may be given the marching orders.``We'll feel sorry if he goes,'' says party general secretary Amar Singh. But he hastenedto add that the dismissal or the appointment of a Governor will have no impact on their prospects. ``After all, a Governor has only a limited role to play. We have our cadres to fall back upon. We're not unduly perturbed over the possibility of his removal,'' he added.But other leaders are not so sanguine. ``Bhandari has so far acted as a bulwark against the activities of the BJP. If he goes, we'll be more vulnerable to attacks from the saffron party,'' another leader from UP said.Singh admitted that the chances of a Congress-led government at the Centre, which his party had been striving for, had receded considerably after the stand taken by the TDP. ``We'll keep quiet. What else can we do ? We wouldn't mind sitting in the opposition,'' he said.But he was confident that any BJP-led Government would not be stable. ``Their allies are not only very unreliable, they are also very unpredictable. I am sure the Vajpayee Government would collapse soon under the weight of its contradictions. We'll thenreturn with a bang,'' he predicted.
