Ready to talk to any party except BJP: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party chief to attend Left rally in Delhi on October 30

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav leaves after an all-party meet called by Parliamentary Affair Minister Kamal Nath to end Parliament logjam at Parliament House in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Vijay Kumar Joshi (PTI8_13_2013_000118A)

A day after >Assembly elections were announced in five States , Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh hinted at the possibility of formation of a Third Front in the context of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. Mr. Singh, who was in his home district Etawah for the final phase of a tree plantation drive on 1,000 acres in Fisher Forest, the site of the proposed Lion Safari on Saturday, said he would attend the October 30 rally of the Left parties in Delhi.

Addressing a public meeting, he claimed that no party would be able to get majority in the Lok Sabha election. However, the SP, which is the second largest party in the present Lok Sabha, would play an important role in the formation of the next government at the Centre, Mr. Singh said. The SP chief said barring the Bharatiya Janata Party, he was willing to talk to any other party.

Stating that the Lok Sabha election could be held anytime, the SP chief added the communal forces would have to be taken head-on.

Without mentioning the recent communal violence in Muzaffarnagar district, Mr. Singh said the communal forces, unnerved by the popularity of the SP government in Uttar Pradesh, were rearing their head. The SP’s fight was against the BJP.

Even as the SP president was reiterating his resolve to fight the communal forces, his brother and Public Works Department Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav led a “sadbhavna committee” (committee for promoting harmony) of 10 Ministers to Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. They visited relief camps in Muzaffarnagar district.