After Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday hit out at the Congress for using the CBI to witch hunt political rivals.
Akhilesh evaded a direct reply to the BJP's charge that the SP was supporting the UPA fearing CBI action against its top leaders but said: "It is a fact that anybody who does not act according to the wishes of the Congress faces persecution through the CBI."
Akhilesh said that the UPA will suffer heavily in the next lok Sabha polls due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Central Government and the SP will be the biggest gainer. His remarks followed Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma's latest attack against the SP, wherein he predicted that the ruling party in UP would get just four to five seats in the lok Sabha polls and there will be a "funeral procession" for the party. Interestingly, the Congress did not disapprove of his statement this time around.
Countering Beni's assertions, Akhilesh said the SP will come up with its best-ever performance in the lok Sabha polls and that it was ready for the elections.
He attributed Mulayam's claim that general elections could take place as early as November this year to "political developments and media reports hinting at such a possibility".
"The parties which struggle to get 5,000-10,000 votes in Assembly polls in most of the constituencies will not be able to win more than four or five seats out of the 80 lok Sabha constituencies (in UP)," he predicted in retaliation.
However, he refrained from attacking Beni directly unlike other SP leaders, who alleged that Beni has lost his mental balance and demanded his removal from the Union Cabinet.
SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav asserted that Beni held a grudge against the party for two successive defeats of his son Rakesh in Assembly polls while another general secretary Ram Asrey Kushwaha charged the Steel Minister with losing his mental balance and demanded his immediate removal from the Central Government.
Beni, however, went on to accuse Mulayam of cheating the minorities by not doing anything to save Babri Masjid and allege that he has a tacit understanding with the BJP.
"Congress will fight all the 80 lok Sabha seats in UP and will win 40. We will not let BJP win more than 10 seats. Behenji (Mayawati) will win 36. And of whom you are talking about (SP) will win four seats and there will be a funeral procession for that party," he said.
SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Beni will be "nowhere in the next lok Sabha elections and Congress will have to suffer due to such baseless statements".
However, the Congress, which in the past had distanced itself from Beni's attack against Mulayam due to apprehensions that SP will withdraw support of its 22 MPs to the UPA Government thereby threatening its survival, saw nothing wrong this time.
Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said that unlike in the past Beni had not made any personal attack against Mulayam and was just making a political statement. Moreover, since Congress and SP are not in an alliance in UP, there is nothing wrong in predicting the Congress' victory in the lok Sabha elections.
