Congress tells Mulayam-baiter Beni to hold fire

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, who had upset UPA's crucial outside ally Samajwadi Party by his attacks on its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, was today advised by Congress to hold his fire.

Verma, on his part, assured the party leadership that he will not target Yadav or his party till he came under attack from SP leaders, Congress sources said.

Verma, who met AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi here, was advised by the party not to attack SP leaders and end his hostilities towards Yadav.

The Steel Minister also met AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora at the Congress headquarters here.

"There is a ceasefire from both the sides," Verma later told reporters after meeting expelled SP general secretary Amar Singh who met him at his office here.

Both Verma and Singh were with SP. While Verma left the party after differences with the party leadership, Singh was expelled in 2010 after he fell out with Yadav.

Singh refused to comment on the Verma-Yadav spat saying "they used to be friends and know each other the best."

In an indication of the thaw between both the parties on Verma issue, SP leader Naresh Agarwal sought to differentiate between Verma and Congress leadership.

"We will not react to any small time leader's attack on SP or its leaders. We will only react to comments made by the Prime Minister, the Congress President or (Congress Vice-President) Rahul Gandhi," he said.

The trading of charges between Verma and SP had started last month after Verma's allegation that Mulayam had taken commission for supporting UPA and that the SP chief had "terrorist links".