Mulayam Singh Yadav pitches for Third Front, targets UPA, NDA

Kolkata: Samajawadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday warned the UPA as well as the NDA that they would not be able to form the next government at the Centre without the support of smaller parties which are not part of their alliances. Making a pitch for a non-UPA, non-NDA Third Front, Mulayam urged his party workers to get ready for a larger role at the national level.

"The UPA is to be blamed for the economic turmoil in the country. And BJP as a party can never grow now. So now the Samajwadi Party has to take larger responsibility and take the nation forward," claimed Mulayam at his party's national executive in Kolkata, bastion of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee who is a part of the Congress-led UPA.

"Samajawadi Party has to come up to the expectations of the people. We have to fulfill our commitments to the people. I appeal to all the party leaders to fufill the promises made in the party's election manifesto," said Mulayam.

The Samajwadi Party chief said that neither the UPA, nor the NDA could form a government without his party\'s support.

Targeting the Congress-led UPA over coal block allocations and corruption, the SP chief said that Congress's reputation has been tarnished throughout the country due to a number of scams.

Mulayam added that his party's responsibility is not confined to Uttar Pradesh, signalling that he is once again preparing to get in touch with non-UPA, non-NDA parties.

The leader also said that his party is with all sections of the society. "We need to make the Samajwadi Party strong in other parts of the country."

In a stinging criticism of the government and playing the minority card, Mulayam asked, "Why didn't the UPA government accept the recommendations of Sachar Committee?"

The SP chief had called the Congress directionless on Tuesday. "This government is directionless. We have big challenges ahead especially for us who are in the opposition. Where they want to take the country we don't have any idea. We are for principles," Mulayam had said.

"That is the role of the opposition and we are fulfilling it," he said.

Earlier, referring to the alleged coal scam that held up the entire monsoon session of Parliament, the SP chief told party workers, "Coal scam kahan jake rokega dekhiye (no one knows where the coal scam will lead to). Bahut corruption hai (there is a lot of corruption)."

"You can see there is no clear policy and we don't know where they want to take the country. No one can say...We sit everyday in the Lok Sabha, we listen, we are in touch with the government, but there is no direction," he said.

Showering praise on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam said that she was hard working and a fighter, though also stubborn.

"She has many qualities in her as a result of which she has become the chief minister today," he said.

"I respect her. We have spoken to each other several times," Mulayam said.

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