Cong keeps up pressure on SP

Maintaining its pressure on UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress today said the commitment of the Samajwadi Party against communa...

Maintaining its pressure on UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress today said the commitment of the Samajwadi Party against communalism was suspect. While stating this, party general secretary Satyavrat Chaturvedi 8212; who is in charge of the state 8212; made light of the outbursts of SP general secretary Amar Singh against the Congress, saying: 8216;8216;He has taken to politics, but hasn8217;t become a politcian yet.8217;8217;

Chaturvedi pointed out that Mulayam had retained present UP BJP president Kesari Nath Tripathi as the Speaker till he himself quit. Then came the state government8217;s stand on the case against BJP leader L.K. Advani. Moreover, recently, SP had lent support to the BJP candidate for Assembly deputy speakership and Singh and BJP leader Ashok Pradhan, a former minister, jointly appeared at a function at Ghaziabad.

Asserting that it was not the Congress alone but 8216;8216;everybody8217;8217; was doubtful of the SP commitment to fight communalism, Chaturvedi added it would obviously take us time 8216;8216;to convert this suspicion to trust8217;8217;.

Singh, according to Chaturvedi, 8216;8216;should rise above personal feelings and concern himself with wider issues8217;8217;. He further pointed out that Singh 8212; while complaining against the treatment he received at the dinner hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for UPA and Left leaders at 10, Janpath 8216;8216;for three months8217;8217;8212; maintained that he would back the Congress-led Government 8216;8216;even if Congress hits us with a shoe a hundred times8217;8217;.

On why the Congress had kept SP out of the UPA umbrella as well as in the consultation process with supporting parties, he asked: 8216;8216;Did he consult us in UP as a supporting party?8217;8217;

He pointed out the Left did express divergent views on several issues like FDI, EPF and disinvestment. However, Congress, instead of taking offence, always maintained that it would talk to the Left. He sought to know if Mulayam did the same. He asked: 8216;8216;Is there any common minimum programme in UP?8230;Has he ever invited Congress leaders for consultations?8217;8217;