The Samajwadi Party (SP) led by former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is not only ready to join the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre but has also demanded ministerships as the price for its support.
A package deal that includes pre-general election seat adjustments in Uttar Pradesh, the state that has the highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha, is also under negotiation.
An SP-UPA deal, news of which steadied the nervous stock markets today, will allow the government to sail through a trust vote in Parliament (see table), should the four Left parties that vote with the government withdraw support.
The Left parties
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