SP ready to face early general elections: Mulayam

Kochi, Mar 31 (UNI) Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav today declared his party is ''ready to face'' early general elections.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Yadav said all socialist forces should join hands to fight against the ''anti-people'' policies of the UPA Government at the Centre.

Asked if the country was heading for early Lok Sabha elections, he said ''I am ready to face them.'' Lashing out at the UPA Government, he said its policies were meant to benefit only ten to 15 per cent of the population. In the recent union budget, cars were made cheaper and cycles costlier, he noted.

Describing the loan waiver for farmers as a ''deception'', Mr Yadav said it would not benefit farmers, but banks, whose outstanding dues would be paid by the Government.

He said more than 150,000 farmers had committed suicide in the past ten years, including in prosperous states such as Maharahstra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Mr Yadav, who was here to address a ''social justice meet'' alongwith PDP leader Abdul Nazer Maudhany, described Mr Maudhany as a ''victim of communal forces.'' Expressing hope that the PDP and the SP would work together, he said they would jointly raise issues such as inflation, communalism, unemployment and entry of MNCs into the country.

Criticising the Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh for unleashing a violent campaign against farmers and students, he condemned the police action against the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) activists in Muzzafarnagar today.

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