SP keeps Govt guessing

After the DMK pull out, the
Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter, today kept the government on tenterhooks demanding resignation of Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma for his controversial remarks against party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Not happy with Verma just expressing regret for his remarks, Yadav met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and later had an interaction with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who was seen talking to him with folded hands in the Lok Sabha after the House had adjourned.
A grim-looking Yadav said he has convened a meeting of SP MPs tomorrow at 9 AM. "We will hear their views and then decide," he told reporters while leaving Parliament on being asked his party's stand after Verma's regret. SP has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

As Congress leaders made desperate attempts to placate Yadav, the SP chief met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, fuelling speculation of political realignment at a time when the buzz of mid-term poll gains ground.
Both the leaders, however, played down the meeting, saying they had met to discuss modalities of a programme they have to attend together on March 24.

The meeting of the two leaders comes in the backdrop SP demanding the resignation of Verma and the DMK ruling out a reconsideration of its stand on withdrawing support from the government.
A day after withdrawing support to the government, five DMK ministers today tendered their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the Union Council of Ministers.

DMK is second party to leave the UPA. Earlier Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had quit the UPA last year on the issue of FDI in multi-brand retail.
SP has said it is not satisfied with Verma's "regret" and wants an unconditional apology from the minister, who was once close to Yadav.
"There is a difference between regret and apology," SP leader Shailendra Kumar said after Yadav met the Prime Minister.
While NCP is a key constituent of the UPA, SP extends outside support to the government. These developments have come at a time when government said the crisis has blown over and "the matter is closed".

Between adjournments in the Lok Sabha, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde met Yadav separately and are understood to have conveyed to him that the Congress strongly disapproved of Verma's remarks.