Samajwadi Party yet to take final call on Telangana motion

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter of the ruling UPA, is yet to take a call on supporting the no-confidence motion being pressed by some Congress MPs from Seemandhra and the TDP over the Telangana issue.

But at the same time top SP leaders said the party was "in principle" against bifurcation of states.

"The no-confidence motion is a new development. But we have left a final decision on party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav," a senior party leader told PTI tonight.

He said the party, with 22 MPs in Lok Sabha, was unlikely to support the motion, but "if the government fails to prevent a vote, then SP will have to take a final call as we are against smaller states".

He also said the party will press for a motion in the Rajya Sabha against bifurcation of states, including Andhra Pradesh.

Some TDP members have claimed that they are in touch with SP leadership on the issue of no-confidence motion.

YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy had recently met SP leaders seeking their support against the Telangana Bill.

In an embarrassment to Congress, six of its MPs from Seemandhra had yesterday given notice for the no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government to protest creation of Telangana and were joined by TDP and YSR Congress Party in this endeavour.

The Seemandhra MPs, four TDP members of Lok Sabha and three members of YSR Congress Party led by Jaganmohan Reddy gave separate notices to Speaker Meira Kumar for moving the no-trust motion.

Speaker Kumar wanted to take up the issue of no-confidence today in Lok Sabha but could not due to pandemonium.