Don't discount possibility of SP withdrawing support: PM

With outside ally Samjawadi Party breathing fire in the last few days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday acknowledged the possibility of its withdrawl of support to the UPA, but ruled out any threat to his government or early elections. Vowing not to allow coalition compulsions to derail the reforms, he said government was confident of pushing ahead with the reforms that mattered and that were going to yield results in the next few months.

Singh also appeared not to rule himself out of the race for prime pinistership after the next Lok Sabha elections. "Well, obviously coalitions face issues. Sometimes, they give the impression that these arrangements are not not very stable arrangements and I cannot deny that such possibilities don't exist", the Prime Minister said.

"But I am confident that our government will complete full five years, that the next election to the Lok Sabha will be held on schedule (in 2014)," Singh told reporters accompanying him on his return from a four-day visit to Durban in South Africa. He was replying to a question whether after the exit of DMK from the UPA, SP, whose support is crucial, would withdraw backing this year to make the government "much more vulnerable" on Thursday.