Samajwadi Party to contest outside Uttar Pradesh: Ramgopal Yadav

Agra, Sep 11: With a view to expand Samajwadi Party's base outside the Hindi heartland, the party's national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav on Wednesday said SP would contest Lok Sabha elections outside Uttar Pradesh as well.

Talks are going on for the party to contest elections in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, he said at the Samajwadi Party national executive meeting which began here today.

SP leader Mohd Azam Khan, who has been sulking over the party's handling of the violence in Muzaffarnagar, did not attend the meet. The party leaders, however, downplayed his absence and said that the minister was down with viral fever.

Clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining towns have so far claimed 40 lives.

Khan has apparently been unhappy over the violence in Muzaffarnagar due to which many Muslims have fled their homes. Clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining towns have so far claimed 40 lives.

Asked about the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav alleged that some parties were spreading communalism since elections were nearing.

The SP leader said that since BJP brought Narendra Modi to UP, it was being apprehended that the same atmosphere would be created in the state. "They benefited once by this...politics is being done on the corpses.

The party will discuss the issue," he alleged. On the question of Third Front, he said anything in this regard will happen only after the Lok Sabha elections. Asked about their support to Congress, he said that it was in the national interest and SP had no vested political interest in it.

PTI