Slapping of NSA on Varun 'wrong': Mulayam

LUCKNOW: Terming the invoking of the NSA against Varun Gandhi as "wrong", Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday alleged that the stringent Act has been used to settle political scores.

"The framing of charges under NSA against Varun Gandhi is completely wrong. In fact, National Security Act has always been used to settle political scores... why did the police fail to arrest Varun and his supporters before the roadshow," Yadav told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He alleged that the move to frame charges under NSA against Varun, the BJP candidate from Pilibhit, was "a tactic by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to generate sympathy towards Varun Gandhi".

"If the BJP-BSP are not having any sort of tacit understanding, then why was Varun not arrested before the roadshow," said Yadav.

Lashing out at the state government, Mulayam alleged, "In the Auraiya PWD engineer murder case, a SP worker Kamlesh Pathak was framed under NSA, while the accused roamed free. It is due to these reasons that I oppose the NSA since it was implemented."

Asked if any other candidate will be fielded in case the court disallows actor Sanjay Dutt to contest from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, Mulayam said, "This is completely a hypothetical question."