New Delhi:
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has reportedly proposed 10 changes in the Food Security Bill and told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that without these changes, his party will not back the Bill seen as the UPA government's main vote-getter in the 2014 polls.
Mr Yadav, whose party extends external support to the UPA government, met the Prime Minister for about 30 minutes this morning, just before a Cabinet meeting. "It was a regular meeting. I don't have to discuss what I spoke about with the media," he said after the meeting.
The Samajwadi chief's latest demand spells trouble for the government, which wants to push the Food Security ordinance and other crucial measures in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said: "It is one step forward; at least they want to discuss the Food Bill. Why do you think everything that Mulayamji says is a threat?"
Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of senior party functionaries, Congress chief ministers and state Congress chiefs on Saturday to discuss the Bill.
The UPA government, which has a wafer-thin majority in Parliament after the exit of two key allies, is dependent on the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party for numbers in Parliament.
Despite his objections and threats in the past, Mulayam Singh Yadav has always bailed the government out when it comes to crucial legislation.
But Congress- Samajwadi ties have been strained at a time union minister Beni Prasad Verma of the Congress has openly targeted the Samajwadi party chief, recently saying he is not fit to be even a sweeper in the Prime Minister's office.
The Food Security ordinance, notified last week, has to be ratified within six weeks of its tabling in Parliament. The ordinance is already in trouble with the main opposition BJP also seeking changes and accusing the government of trying to bypass a debate in Parliament by bringing in an ordinance.