New Delhi: Amid indications that they will be kept out of the new government, RJD and Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday complained of humiliation by Congress leaders, but said they would continue to support the UPA.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad and SP leader Amar Singh said certain Congress leaders were making derogatory remarks against the allies.
Prasad said remaining in the Cabinet was not a "big thing" while SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said his party was ready to sit in the Opposition if UPA does not want its support.
Asked to react on the party's earlier stand that SP would lend issue-based support to UPA, Amar Singh said, "Let there be a reason to be harsh first (on the government over a certain issue). Unnecessary pressure on a newly-formed government should not be applied."
Singh added that both Congress and SP "had a coordination committee as there is coordination among us. I hope that some mechanism will develop again, whether we are part of the government or not".
The SP leader sought to remind the Congress that, "We are such a large chunk of 24 MPs that we cannot be ignored due to our sheer size. We are not asking for any ministerial berth but a mechanism between two parties will have to evolved."
Amar Singh lamented that some political commentators had lampooned him and his party after SP did not get an invitation from Congress to join UPA.
Referring to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement that his party was ready to sit in Opposition if its offer of constructive support is not acceptable to Congress, Singh said that even senior SP leaders appreciated Mulayam's historic role in lending support to UPA government over the nuclear deal.
"When senior leaders of our party appreciated Mulayam Singh's role in supporting the UPA over nuclear deal, then who are these Congress leaders to criticise us," Singh asked.
He added that "SP will not sit in opposition as of now, as we are with the government".
Singh said that his "leadership should not have reacted and I should also not react. I should rather care about what PM said about our contribution and not about some comments by certain Congress leaders".
He said that the PM himself took the initiative of calling him up earlier in the day and expressed his anxiety about comments made by certain Congress leaders about SP's inclusion in the newly-formed government.
When reminded about his earlier comment that he would ask for his pound of flesh from Congress, if it sought SP's support in a post-election scenario, Singh said, "whatever I had said was in the heat of the moment, and Congress also made certain comments. When Digvijay Singh called me up and apologised, we both forgave each other."
Lalu Prasad raised the issue at the Cabinet meeting, lodging protest with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The outgoing Railways Minister said he had made his displeasure known to Congress President Sonia Gandhi too.
"I have lodged a protest in the Cabinet meeting on Monday. I told the Prime Minister that small-time Congress leaders are making derogatory remarks and this is not good for the health of the government," a visibly agitated Lalu Prasad told reporters later without naming anyone.
During the Cabinet meeting, Prasad said certain Congress leaders had been humiliating him and leaders of some other allies during television debates, according to one of the ministers present.
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