Former minister BG Patil joins Samajwadi Party

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday admitted Baba Gouda Patil, a former minister of state at the centre, into the party.

At a press conference in the national capital, Yadav said Patil, formerly of the Congress and the BJP, would head the SP's Karnataka unit.

Yadav, who is eyeing Karnataka to give the SP a national party tag, poached the Lingayat leader from the Congress, which he joined in 2009.

Prior to that, Patil, who has considerable clout in the Belgaum region, was minister of state for rural development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Yadav said Patil would work towards strengthening the party in Karanataka, as also in making its presence felt in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

"Our party policies in favour of the farmers and the downtrodden will now be spread through Patil-ji in the southern parts of India," Yadav added.

SP has one legislator in the Karnataka Assembly.

The SP chief also predicted a Third Front government at the Centre after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be able to reach the majority mark.

"I maintain that the Third Front parties will do well in the elections and we will form the next government," he said, adding that the formation of the group would be only possible after the polls.

"Abhi to hum apni apni takat se apne rajyon mein ladenge aur phir chunaav ke baad ek hokar sarkaar banayenge" (As of now we will contest the polls on our respective strengths in our states and later get together to form the government at the centre)," he said.

Parrying questions on his candidature for the prime minister's post, he said all issues will be discussed after the election results are out.

Referring to the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Yadav said as of now there was just "one announced PM" in the ring.