Samajwadi Party’s support for the beleaguered Manmohan Singh government will not come cheap. The party, which virtually holds the key to the government’s survival given the imminent withdrawal of Left’s support, is likely to come up with an expensive wish list. As the party readies itself for the rescue act, there are clear indications that it may demand changes in the portfolios of Finance Minister P Chidamabram and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, as well as the scalps of RBI Governor Y V Reddy and India’s Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen. As reported by TOI, it will also demand that the Women’s Reservation Bill be shelved.

The laundry list was drawn up here after a meeting of SP’s parliamentary board, convened to complete the formality of authorizing party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav and his associate Amar Singh to wrap the “deal over the deal”. Sources familiar with the thinking in the party said that the removal of Chidambaram, Deora and Reddy was necessary to buffer the party against the “incumbency liability” UPA has acquired on account of inflation. The party’s grouse against Ronen Sen is that the envoy allegedly tried to prevent former US president Bill Clinton from visiting UP at the invitation of Mulayam Singh.

Sources said that the removal of the “troika” responsible for “mismanagement of the economy” would help the party deal better with the criticism that its turnaround on the deal was opportunistic. They said the Congress should act on SP’s “suggestions” given its vulnerability on the price front, which both BJP and the Left would seek to exploit. Congress’s response to the tough conditions was along expected lines. Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi shrugged off the suggestion that SP may seek to drive a hard bargain.