Amar Singh was framed in cash-for-vote case: Mulayam

July 24, 2011 02:54 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 01:30 am IST - New Delhi

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In what is considered a significant turn of events, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh has come out in support of his friend-turned-foe Amar Singh, who is being questioned by the Delhi police in the 2008 “cash-for-vote” case, by claiming that he was “framed.”

He told journalists here on Sunday that the party would help Mr. Amar Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member elected on SP ticket, in whatever way possible to “sail through” the “injustice” (the probe against him) being meted out to him.

Mr. Mulayam Singh said the questioning of Mr. Amar Singh was a conspiracy to trouble the latter. “What was the benefit for us? Was the Samajwadi Party included in the government? Were we getting ministers' posts [by supporting the UPA-I government in the vote of confidence motion],” he asked.

“He is being trapped”

“Mr. Amar Singh is being trapped, he is innocent,” he reiterated, adding that, “We only voted to save the government.”

However, the former Chief Minister ruled out the possibility of Mr. Amar Singh — who was expelled by him from the party last year after the relationship between the two nosedived — returning to the Samajwadi Party.

He also supported party member of the Lok Sabha, Rewati Raman Singh, who would be questioned by the Delhi police on Monday in connection with the 2008 MPs' bribe case, stating that there was a conspiracy to trouble him too. “Had money changed hands, I would have known about it.”

“RLD should join SP”

To a question, Mr. Mulayam Singh said the Rashtriya Lok Dal, led by Ajit Singh, should merge his party with the Samajwadi Party. The two parties contested the 2003 Assembly election together.

“We will contest the election [2012] alone in U.P....Mr. Ajit Singh should forgive me for saying this but he is restricted to only three districts...he should merge his party with the SP,” Mr. Mulayam Singh said.

In the 2008 election, the RLD allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party and won 10 seats in the Assembly.

“BJP a lesser evil”

He also hit out at the Congress by claiming that it was adopting “anti-Muslim policies.” The BJP was a “lesser evil” in dealing with minorities. “Whenever the BJP has ruled, Muslims have not been exploited... despite a couple of communal riots, their exploitation has been less.” This was because the SP was strong in Uttar Pradesh. But the Congress was arrogant. “It is not concerned about protests of the SP. But we will tackle it,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.