Congress may have to live with hard bargaining SP, BSP - Times of India

NEW DELHI: A day after Union minister Beni Prasad Verma accused Mulayam Singh Yadav of taking "cuts" for supporting the Centre, Congress was staring at the tricky task of living with increased dependence on bitter rivals SP and BSP, a prospect that could inflict heavier cost on the Centre. The pullout by DMK may force the Centre to seek help from the UP outfits who have shown amazing flexibility to rescue the Congress-led regime despite reservations. The latest evidence came after their voting pattern saved the FDI in multi-brand retail just after showing every sign of opposing it. UPA sources said the demands from the UP outfits have mostly been manageable but can prove intractable when they were mutually antagonistic like the 'promotion quota'. The quota-related constitution amendment bill created problem for the Centre earlier since SP said it had to be junked while BSP raised the ante for its passage by attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. On Tuesday, BSP chief Mayawati announced support for the government but there appeared a cautious caveating by the Mulayam camp which cited that DMK had not withdrawn support to merit speculations. SP has been praying for early polls to capitalize on the sentiment generated by their massive triumph in Uttar Pradesh last March. It saw its wish come close to realization when Trinamool Congress pulled out of UPA in September, but found the Congress a step ahead in managing the numbers. As DMK announced withdrawal of support on Tuesday morning, Samajwadi leader Ramgopal Yadav denied any crisis by saying that DMK was only indulging in "blackmail" and had not withdrawn support. He refused to speculate about the future. By late night, the Samajwadi brass could be asked the query afresh as the Dravidian outfit led by T R Baalu filed into the Rashtrapati Bhavan to hand over its letter of withdrawal of support to President Pranab Mukherjee. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGcxhfQ6HfpZXij5UrPvOBx2wry9A&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Congress-may-have-to-live-with-hard-bargaining-SP-BSP/articleshow/19081725.cms

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