As Lok Sabha polls near, Cong bringing in food bill: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav attacked the Congress over the Food Security Ordinance, accusing it of indulging in vote bank politics and said its intentions were not good.

As Lok Sabha elections are near, the Congress is bringing the ordinance like it had brought rural employment scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act before the previous polls, he said. "The ordinance has been brought keeping in mind Lok Sabha polls...The intentions of the Congress are not good and my party would look into it and see that interest of farmers is not harmed. The Congress is only doing vote politics...," Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.

"Over five lakh people died, mostly in Maharashtra, due to starvation.....Why the government did not distribute foodgrains to them then...The condition of the Congress is not good in the entire country and the ordinance is a mere propaganda," Yadav alleged.

Noting that the Parliament session was scheduled this month, he said the matter could have been discussed in the House. Yadav said his party had some apprehensions on the ordinance and he would like to clear them. "We will clear whether it will keep interest of farmers or not besides giving the advise to give free wheat to people instead of charging Rs 2-3 per kg for them," Yadav said.

"We are alert and farmers are alert too. We will read the entire ordinance and will do the needful," he said.

Asked why the Samajwadi Party was supporting the United Progressive Allaince government when it did not agree with the Congress policies, Yadav said that he was not part of the UPA and was supporting it only to keep communal forces at bay.

"When nuclear deal was done, we were promised it would be used for power generation and making atom bomb ...Both of which did not happen," Yadav said.

Asked about Narendra Modi's impact in the state, Yadav said that he would not be able to do anything in Uttar Pradesh. "What has he done in the assembly polls in Karnataka, where he spent a lot of time...UP has its own culture and Modi will not be able to do anything here," he said. "Where is Modi's chamatkar (miracle)...only in newspapers..Some newspapers are writing in his favour," Yadav said.

On the Third front, Yadav said that it would be formed after Lok Sabha elections. "The Third front is always formed after elections. We will try for it and others will also. It's sure that neither the Congress nor the BJP will get a majority in the polls," he said. On charges that party leader Rambabu Yadav, who enjoys minister of state status, had demanded "sexual favours", Yadav said that this news is entirely wrong. "It's a conspiracy...which will not yield any results," he said.