Ahead of the government's trust vote in the Lok Sabha, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday held a meeting with his party MPs to devise a strategy to be adopted in Parliament.
Amid reports that all the 39 MPs of the party were not in favour of supporting the Government, only 16 of them turned up for the morning session.
The meeting, addressed by Yadav and party general secretary Amar Singh, assumes importance as the SP has become a crucial ally of the Congress-led coalition at the Centre ahead of the confidence motion.
While MPs Ateeq Ahmed and Afzal Ansari are in jail, Raj Babbar and Beni Prasad Verma have been suspended from the party.
Munawwar Hasan is a known rebel, who has announced that he would vote against the motion. Same is the case with Rajnarain Budholiya, MP from Hamiripur, and Jai Prakash, who represents Mohanlalganj.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, Mohan Singh and Revati Raman Singh, who had not attended the last Parliamentary Party meeting of SP, were present at today's deliberation.
Meanwhile, the party has issued a three-line whip asking its members to be present in the Lok Sabha on July 21 and 22 and vote in favour of the confidence motion.