SP may quit us, says PM

On Board the Prime Minister's Aircraft: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged on Thursday that possibilities exist of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav withdrawing support to the UPA government later this year, while, in the same breath, he expressed “confidence” that his government would complete full five years and the election to the next Lok Sabha would take place on schedule. The Prime Minister also admitted that the government did not have a majority in Parliament to push through some of the reform proposals as they were now dependent on the goodwill of allies. Dr Singh was responding to questions from the media on the UPA’s support base in Parliament, on his return journey home from the Brics summit in Durban. To a specific question on whether his government was much more vulnerable today because of fears that Yadav may want to withdraw support later this year, Dr Singh said,“Obviously coalitions face issues. Sometimes, they give the impression that these arrangements are not very stable and I cannot deny that those possibilities exist. But I am confident that our government will complete full five years, that the election to the next Lok Sabha will take place on schedule.” Also, asked if his government still had the political wherewithal to sustain reforms, Dr Singh said it was not a once-for-all set up that his government was seeking by way of reforms. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday disagreed that the Congress and his leadership had lost the ability to hold allies together. “I think that as I said, alliances do have compulsions which have to be taken into account. We will not allow these compulsions to derail the reform process or to create a situation where the essential task of governing this vast country of ours can be put aside,” he told reporters on his special aircraft while returning from South Africa after attending the Brics summit. Responding to questions on whether his government still had the political wherewithal to sustain reforms, Dr Singh said, “We are certainly dependent on the goodwill of our allies and I would be the last one to deny that there are uncertainties, but even then, we are confident that the reforms that matter, and which are going to yield results in the next few months, we will be able to push them.“