Cong asserts itself as alternative to SP

“At the Centre,Samajwadi Party is supporting the government. So we gave them some time,a chance (to perform in UP). But when the situation crosses all the limits,nothing much can be tolerated,” said Congress MP and chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes P L Punia to the party supporters who had gathered at Jhulelal grounds in Lucknow to protest against “worsening law and order situation”.

“The UPA government has clarified that (if) the SP is supporting the government at the Centre,it has its own reasons — to keep away communal elements at bay. But they are supporting us from outside. They are not our allies. We have to face them as our opponents,” he added.

Simultaneous protests at all district offices were organised today.

Highlighting the “multiple power centres in the state”,Punia said: “They have seated Akhilesh Yadav in the driving seat,but a second person has the accelerator,a third has the steering,and the brake is in the hands of a fourth person. So when somebody tries to accelerate,somebody else applies brake and the government stalls.”

He also said that the SP government was installed not because of its policies or leadership,but because of five years of BSP misrule. “The people who wanted BSP to go bought the SP’s populist ideas,” adding “the government has added conditions to its own poll promises due to which many people have been left out.”

Fresh from controversy over his remarks on SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav,Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma avoided direct mention of the SP supremo. He,however,sought to negate the SP itself on a day which coincided with birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia.

“From samajwadis,they (the SP) have become parivarvadis. Jawaharlal Nehru was the biggest socialist. What Ram Manohar Lohia and Indira Gandhi did was socialism. But those who just think about their family can never be samajwadis (socialists),” he said.

On the SP cadres burning his effigies over his remarks on Mulayam,Beni said,“Burning effigies prolongs one’s life. To those burning effigies,I have a message: “I will be in active politics for 20 more years and will not leave this Earth till the rein of the nation is handed over to (Con vice-president) Rahul Gandhi.”

Highlighting the ideological differences between the SP and the Congress,Khatri said,“This is the same party which has opposed us on FDI in multi-brand retail,Women’s Reservation Bill,and on SC/ST quota in Promotion Bill,” adding that “either the (law and order) situation will change or the government.”

Unnao MP Annu Tandon said the people of UP are caught between “the devil and the deep sea,” referring to the SP and the BSP.

Expressing concern at the instances of violence in one year of SP rule,Union minister Jitin Prasada said the state is suffering on many accounts as the environment is not conducive for growth.