SP another step away from Cong

The rift between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress became wider today when SP general secretary Amar Singh threatened never to step ...

The rift between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress became wider today when SP general secretary Amar Singh threatened never to step into 10 Janpath again. In the same breath, he warned the Congress to keep away from ‘‘vindictive politics’’, referring to the party’s demand for a trial against former Defence minister George Fernandes.

The SP, he said, was ‘‘not captive’’ to any party and will not hesitate to criticise the Government. The press meet marked a return from exile of sorts for Amar Singh since the dinner party hosted by Sonia Gandhi where he, allegedly, gatecrashed. ‘‘I have decided never to step into 10 Janpath again,’’ he said. The Congress should also have exhibited ‘‘some manners when accepting the SP’s hand of friendship’’, Singh added, pointing that despite SP’s 37 MPs supporting it, Congress had not even had the ‘‘courtesy’’ to show it a draft of the CMP.

Reiterating his support to Fernandes, who is facing several charges from the Tehelka case to the coffin scam, Amar Singh said: ‘‘It does not augur well for this government that some ministers are making statements which smack of vindictive politics.’’

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Singh was responding to Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that the inquiry into the Tehelka expose during the NDA rule should be proceeded with transparency and the Babri demolition case, from which BJP leader L.K. Advani was ‘‘rescued’’ by the CBI, should be ‘‘put back on the rails’’.

That Singh is still smarting from the Congress snub was evident when he pointed out that it was SP, and not Congress, which had wiped out the BJP in UP. ‘‘The SP defeated all Hindutva stalwarts in UP, and reduced BJP’s tally to 10 seats. And despite Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka’s presence, the Congress vote percentage fell from 15 to 12 per cent, and the party got a lesser number of seats.’’

He also dismissed reports that his party’s partner, Ajit Singh and his RLD, were moving to the Congress. He also announced the names of the party’s leaders in Parliament—Ram Gopal Yadav as party leader in the Lok Sabha and Jyaneshwar Mishra as leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha.

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