BSP not to join opposition protest on FDI: Maya

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the winter session of Parliament, which is likely to be rocked by the row over FDI in retail, BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday understood to have asked her party MPs not to join the opposition protests.

"You remain neutral. I will tell you later what stand to be adopted on the FDI issue," Mayawati, a member of Rajya Sabha, is learnt to have told BSP MPs here.

In signals that she was not inclined to support the opposition in attacking UPA government on the issue, she is also believed to have asked the MPs not to rush to the well of the House. Her party has 21 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 15 in the upper house.

Samajwadi Party is meeting on Thursday, after which its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is also the Parliamentary Party leader, is expected to announce its stand. Yadav has often said his party does not want to pull down the government in order to keep communal forces at bay.

At the same time, he has asked his partymen to prepare for the Lok Sabha polls as they could be held before 2014. SP has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha and nine in Rajya Sabha. Both the Uttar Pradesh parties have remained supportive of UPA government in Parliament.