Amar Singh targets Amitabh Bachchan, Azam Khan attacks him

NEW DELHI: Having secured Samajwadi Party nomination to contest Rajya Sabha poll, Amar Singh today trained his gun on estranged friend and Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, terming him as "just and actor" embroiled in several alleged offences whose name also figured in the Panama papers.

"I will pray for Amitabh Bachchan. He is also now embroiled in Panama papers. He said that his name has been misused and he does not know what it is all about," Singh said tonight.

Over six years after it expelled Singh, the Samajwadi Party had yesterday "unanimously" declared him as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll, which would pave the way for his return to the Upper House and active politics.

"There is a CBI probe following a PIL in Supreme Court. SIT on black money is probing. The story does not end there. The SIT instituted and constituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun jaitley is also probing. I will pray to the Almighty to give him enough strength to bear this unberable shock," he said sarcastically.

Bachchan is neither a "Samajwadi or Modiwadi", the Thakur leader from UP said, adding, "He is just an actor..an icon. God save him, his happiness."

Singh said he was expelled from Samajwadi Party for six years and that period was over.

"So, ultimately I have become a member of party. Unless I join some other party," he told India Today news channel.

"I was Mulayamwadi, I am and I will remain Mulayamwadi," he said.

He said the Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, "unfortunately or sadly" was not a Samajwadi.

"He is facing a tough time... emotionally, personally, judicially and administratively," he said.

Singh said he was not expecting any problem on his return from any leader in the party as everyone had accepted the decision taken by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

"Everyone has said that he accepts the final verdict the leader (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has given," he said.

He, however, added that he was trying his best to correct his ways to ensure if someone is not satisfied, he gets satisfied.

" Let's see whether I get success or not," Singh said.

SP strongman and the party's Muslim face in Uttar Pradesh, Azam Khan, who has a running feud with Singh, described his nomination for contesting Rajya Sabha poll as "a sordid episode".

"As far as my personal view is concerned it is a sordid episode. But since Netaji is the party supremo, who has taken this decision, it can not be commented upon," Khan, a Minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government, said.