SP may back a Congress-led government

The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it did not rule out joining the Congress in forming a government at the Centre and will not be averse to taking up ministerial portfolios.

"I cannot rule (it) out," SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said in this native place of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, which is over 200 km from Lucknow. He was asked if the SP will go with Congress in a post-poll scenario.

Asked pointedly if the SP will join Congress to form a government, he said, "if it is a respectable understanding, (there is) nothing wrong in it."

To a question if the party will accept portfolios in such a government since last time it only gave an outside support, he said, "If the situation arises, we will like to."

Yadav claimed that there will be no erosion in SP's Muslim vote-bank due to its decision of aligning with former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh. "Muslims have been overwhelmingly voting for SP and in this phase too, they will do so. They are not against us."