SP leaders say yet to receive invitation for joining Govt

New Delhi, Jul 30 (UNI) Samajawadi Party leaders today said they were yet to receive any invitation to join the Government.

Senior SP leader Rasheed Masood said joining the government was not ruled out.

''We will certainly consider the proposal, if we receive any invitation from the Prime Minister,'' he told UNI when asked about it.

But he said the ultimate decision on the matter would be taken by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

S P Genral Secretary Amar Singh, talking to reporters in Kolkata, also gave ample hints that his party might very well join the government, saying they will take any decision after they get an invitation from the Congress.

He, however, said his party had also not made any proposals to the Congress in this regard.

Though the SP initially denied that it had any intention to accept ministries, but after the win of the UPA Government in the trust vote, its leaders have not been ruling out the possibility.

According to reports, the party was asking for seven berths in the Council of Ministers, a demand that might be conceded in the likely Cabinet reshuffle soon.

However, chief whip of the party in the Lok Sabha Mohan Singh dismissed these reports just as a figment of imagination.

The Samajwadi Party, which is one of the two key political players in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, had voted in favour of the UPA in the trust motion on the nuclear deal.

With about 34 MPs, its support proved to be crucial in the victory of the Congress-led Government at the Centre.

According to political observers, the SP would like it quite well to be in power at the Centre to take on its arch rival in the Uttar Pradesh, the Mayawati=led Bahujan Samaj Party, which the former has been accusing of harassing its workers and framing its leaders on fabricated charges.

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