India Samajwadi Party quit government

New Dehli: The Samajwadi Party is on the verge of announcing its withdrawal of crucial support to the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

According to sources, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was earlier authorised by the party’s parliamentary board to make the decision on the issue, may make a formal announcement to this effect soon after the festival of colours Holi, which will be celebrated on Tuesday.

Such a move could force early general elections after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which was a major constituent of the UPA, pulled out of the coalition last week. On Sunday the party announced it would not even extend its outside support to the government.

“We have withdrawn support to the UPA and have decided not to offer even outside support to the UPA,” DMK leader Tiruchi Shiva said after the party’s executive meeting in the Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

While Samajwadi Party has 22 lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, DMK has 18. The UPA government has been surviving with outside support of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party after having been reduced to the minority.

DMK is the second major ally of the Congress party to walk out of UPA following a similar action by the Trinamool Congress. The federal government will find it difficult to cross the majority mark and may be forced to call for early polls after the Samajwadi Party’s expected withdrawal of support.

The Samajwadi Party favours early elections as it is best poised to achieve a good result in Uttar Pradesh, which elects the maximum 80 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha. The party swept to power in the state early last year.

Yadav also feels it is the best chance to realise his ambition of become prime minister, with the help of other regional parties.

Yadav once again floated the balloon of Third Front Sunday at a rally in Maharashtra. The party is already in touch with the fragmented socialists and some big regional parties to prop up the Third Front, including Biju Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Asom Gana Parishad, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Telugu Desam Party. Yadav had led failed efforts to revive the defunct Third Front ahead of 2009 general elections.

Yadav has deputed his close confidantes Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agarwal to get in touch with these parties to bring them all under the Third Front umbrella and convince them that the regional parties have the best chance to rule the country since both the Congress party-led UPA and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance are not in a position to win enough seats to form the next government.

The option available to pull down the government is to either bring in a no-confidence motion or ensure defeat of the government on the finance bill when it comes up before parliament for vote in the second week of May.

Various political parties are already working on the presumption that the next general elections, due otherwise in April-May next year, will be held around October this year. Fresh elections must to be held within six months of the fall of the government, which continues in power with caretaker status.