Can back Cong to keep BJP out,says Mulayam,later ‘clarifies’

He says SP will not need any partys support to form the govt as it will win with a majority.

Setting off fresh speculation in Uttar Pradesh about post-poll alliances,Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today said his party was open to supporting the Congress if needed,to keep the BJP out of power.

As the Congress reacted that it had not sought any such support,the SP chief issued a clarification,saying he was talking about supporting the Congress at the Centre in order to prevent communal forces like BJP coming to power.

Mulayam also asserted that the SP would not need any partys support to form the government in Uttar Pradesh as it would win with a majority. He claimed a wave in favour of the SP.

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Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has recently been quite clear in his campaigns that the party will go it alone in UP.

Speaking to reporters after a rally in Hamirpur,Mulayam had said: If the BJP is coming to power,then we will extend our support to the Congress. Otherwise,we are neither supporting the Congress at present nor will we support it.

Reacting to the statement,Congress MP and Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh said his party was neither seeking nor extending support to any other party in UP apart from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

We are in lead in UP elections and his (Mulayams) statement shows that he is accepting that the Congress is in a position to form the government, said Singh.

For Kolkata, the IMD has forecast mostly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain or thundershowers on most days through Panchami.

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