BSP to give unconditional outside support to UPA Govt

Lucknow, May 19 (PTI) Chief Minister of India's
northern state of Uttar Pradesh and BSP chief, Mayawati,
Tuesday said the 21 MPs of her Party will give unconditional
outside support to the Congress-led UPA government.

Acknowledging that the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) will be called by the President to form the next
government, she told a meeting of party leaders that BSP has
taken the decision keeping in view the present situation and
in its objective of keeping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out
of power.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo said that on the day the
results of elections were out, she had telephonically
congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress
President Sonia Gandhi on the UPA victory.

The Prime Minister, Mayawati said, called her on
Sunday evening seeking her party's positive approach towards
strengthening secular forces.

She said the party's National Executive and
Parliamentary Board met this morning and discussed these
issues before deciding on giving unconditional support to the
new government from outside.

In the elections, the UPA coalition got 261 seats just
11 short of the magic figure of 272 required for an absolute
majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Of this Congress alone
got 206 seats.

Apart from BSP, the Janata Dal (Secular) has also
announced support of its three MPS.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party
(SP), which fought Congress in the elections, have backed the
new government. The RJD has four MPs while the SP has 23 MPs.

Mayawati claimed that terming her as sister, the
Prime Minister had asked her to take a positive approach on
strengthening secular forces and formation of a secular
government at the Centre.

She said party general secretary and her close
confidant Satish Chandra Mishra will hand over the letter of
support of the BSP to President Pratibha Patil and UPA
chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

At the same time, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
said that the Centre will not help the state government with
financial assistance.

"We know that the Centre will continue to devoid the
Uttar Pradesh government with financial assistance and will
not make efforts to help the common man. But we have decided
to extend outside support to the UPA government to weaken
communal forces and to keep BJP-led NDA away from power,"
Mayawati said. PTI AVA
DEP