Amar Singh snubs ‘old person’ of Congress

NEW DELHI: Apparently overcome by the urge to see the spotlight on him, Union HRD minister Arjun Singh on Tuesday attempted to analyse the crisis in the Uttar Pradesh alliance. Mr Singh said BJP renegade Kalyan Singh was the chief stumbling block in working out an alliance. However, it was swiftly and firmly rejected by the Samajwadi Party. SP general secretary Amar Singh said the HRD minister���s statements are of no consequence.

Speaking on the Samajwadi Party���s alliance with Kalyan Singh, Arjun Singh had said that the Congress party cannot be seen in the company of the former BJP leader. ���The Congress does support the ties of the Samajwadi Party with Kalyan Singh. However, the congress has distanced itself from Kalyan Singh���s politics. This stand was made clear when Kalyan Singh supported the Samajwadi Party. Kalyan Singh had no direct role, but he could not stop the demolition,��� the HRD minister said.

Amar Singh said the HRD minister���s statement should not be taken seriously as he has the habit of talking out of turn. ���Old people like Arjun Singh tend to make irritating remarks. Arjun singh is like an old person in the family. His comments are of no consequence to me or my party,��� Amar Singh said.

In a stern message to the Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on last Sunday said it had ���no moral right��� to comment on the relationship between his party and former BJP leader Kalyan Singh as the grand old party was in power at the Centre when the Babri Masjid was razed to the ground. ���I want to advise the Congress to keep away from the issue of Kalyan Singh���s friendship with the SP as it did not have the moral right to do so,��� Mulayam Singh Yadav had said.

���From opening up the locks of the structure to allowing foundation laying at the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, all were carried out during Congress regimes at the Centre. Even in 1992 when the mosque was demolished, it was Congress which was ruling at the Centre,��� the SP chief had said.

After the failure of the seat-sharing talks, there are possibilities of a last-minute tacit understanding in at least some of the seats to defeat the BSP. However, the Congress has said it would not compromise on its self-respect and apparently indicated that it expects an honourable deal from the SP. But the SP is not wiling to give more than six seats to the Congress.