No threat to government's stability after DMK's exit from UPA, asserts Chidambaram, Kamal Nath

NEW DELHI: There is no threat to the government's stability, senior Congress leaders asserted after the DMK's exit from the ruling alliance, even as the Samajwadi Party indicated that its critical outside support could come at a higher price.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday shrugged off claims that the UPA had been reduced to a lame-duck government. "We are not a lame-duck government. We are absolutely stable. No political party has come out to challenge our majority," Nath said, a day after DMK decided to part ways over India's stand on the UN resolution against Sri Lanka.

The finance minister said, "Just because one ally has pulled out, the government has not become weak."

Senior Samajwadi leader Ram Gopal Yadav, however, appeared to mock the government, saying, "UPA has a pathetic record compared to the government run by AB Vajpayee. There is complete governance paralysis."

Though a majority of the Opposition supported the government over the UN resolution, Nath said no consensus emerged at an all-party meet on the resolution on Sri Lanka to be moved in Parliament.