Thursday, January 12 2006 12:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party today (Jan 12, 2006) denied it was considering withdrawal of support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre in the wake of the phone tapping controversy.

"Not now," quipped Party General Secretary Amar Singh when asked whether the SP which has 38 MPs was considering reviewing its support to the UPA Government.

Samajwadi Party is supporting the Congress-led Coalition from outside and had submitted a letter of support to President A P J Abdul Kalam, instead of Sonia Gandhi, who was elected chairman of the UPA coalition.

Singh's remarks came soon after he met Ajit Singh, chief of Rashtritya Lok Dal (RLD) and a coalition partner in the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh. Singh told reporters his meeting with the RLD chief was part of his campaign to apprise non-Congress leaders about the phone tapping of opposition leaders.

The Samajwadi Party leader said they do not want to link the phone tapping issue with the withdrawal of support as the tapping issue had become a national one.

"The phone tapping issue is not linked with withdrawal of support to the Congress-led UPA Government. We consider the tapping issue a national one and not as political," he said.

Taking strong objection to AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni's statement that "I went to the Court to stop making public the contents of the tapping" and said he would be taking legal opinion to sue her, preferably filing case in several courts in Uttar Pradesh.

Charging that the Congress Party has resorted to blackmail on the issue, he said, "If Ambika Soni knows about the contents of the tapes and wanted that it should be made public, then its clear what they want."

However, Singh said a Judge of the Supreme Court should hear the tape and find out whether there is anything which endangers national security or merely has personal conversation aimed at blackmailing.