Agra: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on October 14 said it was for the Congress to initiate talks with his party for forming an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) coalition in Uttar Pradesh.

"On three occasions in the recent past, Samajwadi Party has taken the lead in co- operating with Congress. We did not oppose N D Tiwari's election (as Uttaranchal Chief Minister), supported the Congress nominee in the Sultanpur zilla parishads in UP and backed its Vice-Presidential nominee. The ball is now in Congress' court," he told reporters.

The SP would finalise its strategy to "oust the Mayawati government" after October 23, when the party legislators would meet to discuss the situation in the state, Yadav said. Prior to it, district presidents of the party would meet and membership drive would be completed.

He said the party gave six-month time to the Mayawati government to prove its worth. "The government has failed on all fronts because of its anti-people acts."

"It is wasting hard earned money of the people for frivolous activities. Hundreds of crores were being spent on the Ambedkar park, which is turning out to be a resort of pleasure seekers," Yadav said. He would have appreciated if the amount had been allocated for the uplift of dalits.

"Real issues like poverty, education, health, employment and social welfare are being ignored and development of parks and Ayodhya have taken the pride of place," he alleged.

"The Lucknow rally was directed against me. But the condemnation should be against Mayawati and the Deputy Prime Minister for organising a rally against a particular person," the SP chief said.

PTI