Eye on minority vote bank triggered fresh round of counter allegations between Samajwadi and Congress when Union Minister and Congress Working Committee(CWC) member Beni Prasad Verma for the first time demanded resignation of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
He claimed that the Samajwadi Party government has failed to provide relief to the Muzaffarnagar riots victims hence they should better resign.
''If Akhilesh Yadav thought that he could not provide immediate relief to riots victims who already lost hundred of infants due to cold and had any concern left about the Muslims and the country than chief minister should not wait for a moment and resign. let there be President's rule and peace and order would be established in a week's time",", reacted Beni Prasad while claiming that Congress is ready to provide all relief to the victims. However to avert any controversy, Beni was quick to add that as a minister he should not have made such demand.
''UP government is just shedding crocodile tears and doing nothing,'' he said. Verma had earlier termed Akhilesh Yadav has his nephew and refused to make an adverse comment against him so far. Addressing a press conference here at his residence on Monday afternoon, Union Minister for steel said that he had ordered his ministry to extend all possible help for the riot victims staying in relief camps.''I have ordered my ministry to construct 30x30feets steel hall at all the five relief camps while rations for at least 15 days along with blankets and other materials would be sent there immediately,'' he said, adding that his ministry would spent the funds allotted for welfare works.
The statement of Verma came a day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's visit to the relief camps at Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts when SP supporters showed him black flags. Rahul Gandhi had also admitted that the condition of the relief camps were very bad. The Congress leader added that he also wanted that people return to their homes from the relief camps but till they are there, all facilities should be made.
Comparing BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi with 'Hitler' and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav with 'Mussolini,' Verma held both the leaders responsible for doing 'vote business' and derailing the development of the country and UP. Criticizing Modi and Yadav, he said the country had to face the brunt after the 1992 communal and there after Godhra riots.' Modi and Yadav are two sides of the same coin,' he alleged.
``Every Indian has the DNA of Congress and hence the leaders accusing the Congress of lack of development in the country or accusing a particular family is an insult every individual of the country,' he said, referring to the recent statement of Modi, who claimed that one family was responsible for the poverty in the country.
Without taking any names, the lok Sabha member from Gonda said there is an immediate need for a change in the leadership of Congress in Uttar Pradesh. 'Most of the UP Congress leaders are in nexus with the Samajwadi Party. There is an evident proof about the nexus in the just concluded Rajya Sabha by-elections when Congress candidate was elected unopposed by support of SP,’’he claimed.
Expressing desire to contest the 2014 lok Sabha elections both from Gonda and Kaiserganj seats, Verma said that he wanted to also nurse Kaiserganj but it is up to party high command to decide. Verma is a MP from Gonda presently but had won from Kaiserganj seat four times in the past. Amid speculation over a possible tie-up between Congress and BSP for the 2014 general polls, Verma ruled out any such alliance, claiming that his party would alone win 50 out of 80 lok Sabha seats in UP. ``There would be no alliance between Congress and BSP...not till I am around," Verma told reporters. "Our party would alone win 50 seats in UP... people are underestimating us," Verma said, claiming that the party has emerged as the top choice for Muslims.
On the state government declaring Chaudhary Charan Singh's birth anniversary as a holiday, Verma said that though the late prime minister was an idol for both him and his "brother" Mulayam Singh, he felt that a holiday would hamper government work and will be a disadvantage.