No deal with Mulayam, Mayawati or Lalu: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday denied any deal with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Lalu Prasad during the opposition-sponsored cut motions last month.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday denied any deal with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Lalu Prasad during the opposition-sponsored cut motions last month.

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"There was no deal....Whatever misconceptions you have in your heart, kindly get rid of them," Manmohan Singh said in reply to a question at a press conference held to mark the first year of the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

During the cut motion moved in the Lok Sabha on budget proposals to hike the prices of fuels and fertilisers, the leaders of the BSP, SP and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) walked out and abstained from voting, thus ensuring the survival of the ruling coalition.

Mulayam Singh Yadav had recently said his party had offered issue-based support to the UPA in the event of the Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee withdrawing support from the ruling coalition.

Opposition parties, led by the BJP, had charged the government with using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to pressurise Mayawati, Yadav and Lalu Prasad over a disproportionate assets cases to garner their support.

In response to another question, the Prime Minister, however, refuted the charge that the government had misused the CBI.