The sparring between the Samajwadi Party and Beni Prasad Verma hit a new low on Sunday with SP leader Shivpal Yadav accusing the Union Steel Minister of “smuggling opium” and using “charas.”
The Minister did not respond to repeated calls and SMSes for his reaction.
“You all know and you have also read that Beni Prasad smokes a lot. These days he is smoking a lot... he mixes something with tobacco... “You have read also that he is into smuggling of opium. He mixes charas in his cigarettes. He is doing both these things,” Mr. Yadav told reporters here.
The fresh salvo came a day after Mr. Verma said there would be a “funeral procession” for the SP after the next Lok Sabha elections, predicting it would win only four seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Verma also accused SP supremo Mulayam Singh of cheating Muslims over the Babri Masjid issue
The SP while demanding Mr. Verma’s removal from the Union Cabinet over the “funeral procession” comment, said the Minister had lost his “mental balance.”
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav appeared to suggest that it is the Congress which will get no more than four or five seats.
“Parties which struggled to get 5,000-10,000 votes in the Assembly polls in most of the constituencies will be able to win not more than 4-5 seats out of 80 in Lok Sabha elections in the State,” he told reporters in Allahabad.
