The former Samajwadi Party general secretary, Amar Singh, has decided not to attend the Saifai Mahotsav, the party’s cultural festival. Mr. Singh was invited to the festival by Mulayam Singh.
In a message to party president Mr. Mulayam Singh on his blog on Tuesday, Mr. Amar Singh said that after the public insult of being labelled as “mentally ill” by party general secretary and his brother Ram Gopal Yadav, he did not think it was proper for him to attend the Saifai festival in his hometown. “I am not mentally ill, but physically ill. That is why I sought leave by quitting all key party posts. For that you can give me whatever punishment you want.”
With the demand for his ouster from the party gaining ground, Mr. Amar Singh said he had a lot of faith in Mr. Mulayam Singh. But “god forbid, if in future circumstances force me to look for political alternatives, I have no dearth of alternatives.”
Mr. Amar Singh observed that the events of the last few days (since he resigned last Wednesday from party posts) gave him the feeling that he was being blamed for whatever was wrong in the party. “Who knows better than you that my resignation is not political but purely personal.”
In an earlier blog also posted on Tuesday, he urged Ram Gopal Yadav to re-think the decision to invite him to the Saifai festival. He was reacting to Mr. Yadav’s denial in Etawah about apologising to him for suggesting that his resignation from key party posts be accepted.
While charging Mr. Yadav with “saying one thing in the morning and another in the evening,” Mr. Singh wrote on his blog that he would refrain from saying anything further as the former was from Mr. Mulayam Singh’s “family.”
On a possible split in the SP, he said neither had the party chief criticised him and nor had he said anything against him.
“Then where is the possibility of a split in the party?’ I am quite comfortable in SP and I have all the love and respect of my party chief. I resigned from key party posts due to health reasons. But I continue to be a member of the party.”
At the same time, he said that while SP leaders were celebrating the Saifai festival, he would head straight for Mumbai (from London) to campaign for colleague Abu Azmi’s son Farhan, who was the party’s candidate from Bhiwandi (East) in Assembly by-election. “Jaya Bachchan is already there. Jaya Prada is arriving and Sanjay Dutt will also campaign,” he said.
