BSP will continue outside support

Following the pullout of the DMK from the UPA, the Mayawati-led BSP on Wednesday reiterated that the party would continue to support the ruling alliance from the outside. The BSP also stated that the party was not looking at the possibility of joining the government. The BSP’s reiteration of the outside support came amidst the Mulayam Singh Yadav led Samajwadi Party escalating the issue of the alleged derogatory remarks of the Union minister Beni Prasad Verma. “We will not be part of the government. We will continue to support the UPA from outside,” said the BSP supremo Mayawati. She stated that her party had not even joined the UPA-I to which she had also extended outside support only to pull out on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal. “Let me make it clear that we do not support the anti- dalit policies of UPA. There are several issues on which we do not support UPA. Still, we extend support to the UPA from outside to weaken the communal forces,” she added. The BSP chief also refuted the allegations that she had been supporting the UPA for some benefits. “No one can point fingers at us on our outside support to the UPA. We are not giving outside support for any greed. Some Opposition parties belonging to NDA keep saying that Congress is using the CBI and BSP is supporting it because of it. This is totally wrong,” said Ms Mayawati.

*** Rahul asks UP MPs to gear up for polls AGE CORRESPONDENT new delhi, March 20

Expressing confidence that the party would be able to double its present Lok Sabha tally of 22 in Lok Sabha from UP, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked MPs from the state to gear up for general elections. It is to be recalled here that it was under Mr Gandhi’s leadership only that the party had won 22 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. It was no mean an achievement as the party had won only 22 seats in 2007 Assembly elections. In 2012 Assembly elections, the party, however, could win only 28 seats. Sources said that Mr Gandhi asked party MPs from the state to “be confident and positive”. He expressed confidence that “we will win more than double number of seats of what we had got in the last Lok Sabha elections”, the sources said. Mr Gandhi is learnt to have said that while the party would be able to repeat its victory in the seats already held, new seats will be added to the party’s kitty. He also asked MPs to proactively apprise people of UPA government’s work. External affairs minister Salman Khurshid, who is an MP from Uttar Pradesh, downplayed suggestions that Mr Gandhi’s exhortation to the party leaders to gear up for polls indicated mid-term polls were near. “There is no question of mid-term polls...We will complete our full term, it is our desire. This is what should happen in democracy,” Mr Kurshid told reporters here when asked whether Mr Gandhi has given any timeline for early elections or whether DMK withdrawing support from the government could lead to such an eventuality.