Lucknow, July 11 (IANS) Yet another Samajwadi Party MP, Raj Narain Budholiya from Hamirpur, has announced that he would defy the party whip and vote against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on the nuclear deal. Two other SP MPs, Munawwar Hassan and Jai Prakash Rawat, had announced they would defy the whip. All the three claimed that the party had not taken them into confidence before deciding on supporting the UPA.

The rebel MPs have been claiming that there are at least 12 other SP Lok Sabha members who would defy the party whip and won’t let the UPA government survive the floor test in parliament. However, none of the three has named even one of the dozen other MPs.

SP Lok Sabha member, Beni Prasad Verma, who turned against Mulayam Singh Yadav in the run up to the 2007 assembly elections and set up his own Samajwadi Kranti Dal, has said he will join the Congress and support the government.

Verma told reporters Friday he had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi Thursday and assured her his support “along with a group of nine MPs”. These MPs include Raj Babbar and Ateeq Ahmed.

As it stands today, of the total 39 SP MPs three have announced they would defy the whip and the rest are still with the party.