Allahabad: A day after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee described Samajwadi Party (SP) as being "quite close" to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "ideologically", SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today (April 16, 2004) said his party did not appreciate being bracketed with the saffron party as long as it pursued contentious agenda, including the Ayodhya issue.

"Let the BJP first drop all contentious issues like the demand for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, claim over Kashi and Mathura temples, Uniform Civil Code and anti-Muslim posture from its agenda before any parallels could be drawn between the two parties," the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister told an election meeting at Koraon in Allahabad district.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

In an interview to a television channel yesterday, the Prime Minister had said that ideologically the SP was quite close to BJP.

Yadav also took strong exception to the "threat" by senior BJP leaders that his Government would be dismissed if the NDA came to back to power. "If my Government is dislodged, we will come back to power winning over 300 seats."

The SP had the interests of all communities and development of the State upper most in its agenda, he said.

Yadav said a mandate in favour of his party in Uttar Pradesh would enable it to play a crucial role in the formation of the next Government at the Centre which, in turn, would be beneficial to the State.