Advani more dangerous than Bush: Amar Singh
Press Trust of IndiaSaturday, July 5, 2008 (New Delhi)
The Samajwadi Party on Saturday clearly indicated that it would not vote against the UPA government in parliament but stopped short of formally announcing that it has wrapped up a deal with the Congress.
''Communalism is a bigger threat than imperialism today...Today the Left parties, BSP, BJP and Chautala may vote together. If our friends from the Left want to defeat the government with BSP and BJP, we don't want to say anything.
But we can't do this work,'' SP General Secretary Amar Singh told reporters, a day after wrapping up a deal with the Congress.
He also refused to say what his party would do on the floor of the house in case of a trial of strength. ''Let the confidence motion come then we will decide,'' he added.
At the press conference, Singh maintained there was no formal talk of any alliance with Congress so far during the discussions with Congress President Sonia Gandhi or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
''Neither have they asked for our support nor have we committed ours. We are outsiders till now. Karat and Sonia Gandhi are insiders. They have formed the government and are running it. There is no divorce as yet.
They (Left) have only given a warning. This warning has been going on for a year,'' he said.
Justifying his party's new friendship with Congress, Singh launched an attack on BJP saying, ''For us communalism is a bigger danger than imperialism. Advani is a bigger danger than Bush.''
He said his party was never with fundamentalism and maintained that his party was also not formally with the Congress.
When asked about the supporting the government on the floor of the Lok Sabha, he said it was secular versus non-secular and not nuclear deal versus non-nuclear deal. He added that the Congress and the Left parties were secular, thereby indicating that SP would vote in favour of UPA.
The SP leader said the party would back Indo-US nuclear deal in national interest, adding it was ''neither a Hiindu deal nor a Muslim deal''.
SP had opposed the deal in the past on the basis of the facts given by CPI((M) Prakash Karat and now they have been enlightened by the briefings by the NSA, the Prime Minister and former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Singh rubbished all reports about striking a deal with the Congress. ''If Ram Vilas Paswan with his three MPs can become a minister then SP with its 39 MPs in the Lok Sabha can go much further. But there is no deal,'' he said.
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