I respect the Left, says Amar Singh

Apparently avoiding burning bridges with the Left, the Samajwadi Party on Monday refrained from commenting on the Left parties' withdrawal of support to the government and maintained that they respect the Left as they are secular.

"I respect them and I will keep respecting them in future. I will not utter a word against my colleagues in the Left," said SP general secretary Amar Singh after the SP parliamentary party meeting on Monday. Singh said while the SP would be supporting the government for just for one year, the Left has supported the government for the last four years.

"They made the United Progressive Alliance and sustained it for four years. They should also be ready to get both the bouquets and brickbats for the successes and failures of the UPA during the four years," the SP leader said.

Earlier, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, addressing a press conference immediately after the party meet, expressed confidence that the Left-UPA dispute will not spill over to the level of seeking a confidence vote.

"The Left has talked of withdrawing support a number of times, so I do not expect anything like this to be happening really. I believe that no such thing would happen. The Left will not do that. They have certain apprehensions that would be cleared. This is the responsibility of the Congress," Yadav said.

However, when informed of the Left had already decided to withdraw support from the UPA and issued a letter in this regard on Tuesday, the SP chief said, "We will read that letter."