New Delhi, June 08: Samajwadi Party, which bailed out the previous UPA government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, on Monday said that the support has cost it dear.
“We supported you. We faced losses while you gained,” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told the Congress leadership in the Lok Sabha, evoking peals of laughter among the members.
He said the SP has not only lost at the hustings but still has to face abuses from people.
“We were reduced to 23 seats, while you went on to increase your tally from 145 to 206,” he said during the debate in the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
The SP has extended outside support to the current UPA government.
SP had 39 members in the previous Lok Sabha, while it currently has 22 members in the Lower House. Akhilesh Yadav had quit the Firozabad seat while retaining Kannauj from where he had also won.
Mulayam opposes Women’s Bill
Samajwadi Party meanwhile opposed the proposed Women’s Reservation Bill, terming it as a “conspiracy” against the leaders who have reached the Lok Sabha through “hard struggles” and warned of people’s movement if the UPA pushes the legislation.
Mulayam Singh backed the contention of JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav that if the bill was passed without a consensus, it would amount to giving “poison by force” by the ruling class to those opposed to the legislation as had been done to Greek philosopher Socrates.
Participating in the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, Yadav said he was not against greater participation of women in politics but it should be done through consensus.
He sought to reach out to the BJP, JD(U), RJD and Left, seeking their support to stall the bill which provides for 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
“The bill is dangerous for the leadership of Lok Sabha … It is a conspiracy…It would finish the leadership,” Yadav said.
Elaborating, he said leaders like LK Advani, MM Joshi, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad had not reached the present state in a day but through “hard struggles”.
–Agencies