Ruling out the possibility of any pre-poll formation of Third Front, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav attacked the Congress for compromising on communal violence bill. He accused the Congress of bowing before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The act of the Congress-led UPA-II Government leads to suspicion that the bill was withdrawn only due to the opposition by BJP as all other parties were supporting it,’’ alleged Yadav.
Making a direct attack on Congress, Yadav while addressing media persons here on Friday afternoon demanded tabling of the bill in the parliament and passing it in this session. "It seems that the Congress has bowed before of the communal forces and hence withdrew the bill in a hurry in the Rajya Sabha," he claimed. "When the entire opposition, including the left parties, are supporting the bill, why did the Congress run awayIJ Congress should clarify the reason for withdrawing the bill,’’ he demanded. "I have never compromised with communal forces any time. Muzaffarnagar riots were controlled in just two days and record compensation was distributed among the victims,’’ he said.
"About 2,000 riots victims were given Rs 100 crore besides Government jobs and Rs 1 lakh for marriage of their daughters,’’ he claimed. When asked if UP Government would bring a similar legislation in the state Assembly, Yadav parried the question saying the SP Government had already implemented most of the provisions of the bill in the state after the Muzaffarnagar riots.
"We have not spared a single person involved in the riots and those who are evading arrests will be punished severely,’’ he said. When asked if the Samajwadi Party will withdraw support from the UPA-II Government over the anti-communal violence bill issue, he said: "This Government is there for another two months only. What is the need of withdrawing support at this juncture.’’
Yadav refused to commit if the party would field its candidate opposite Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Amethi lok Sabha seats. respectively. "let us see what crops up but it is better that you should put this question before Congress leaders whether they will field a candidate against me and my daughter-in-law," he said.
He also disclosed that the SP candidate for Rampur seat would be decided by senior party leader and UP Urban Development minister Mohammad Azam Khan. SP has announced its candidates on all 80 lok Sabha seats in UP, except Rae Bareli, Amethi and Rampur. The Samajwadi Party president claimed that Third Front government at the Centre was the only option after the lok Sabha elections. "Regional parties have already started the process of setting up a platform for the formation of the next government," he claimed while ruling out any pre-poll alliance citing differences over seat sharing.
Expressing satisfaction on the functioning of the Akhilesh Yadav Government, he said that no Government in the country had done such good work. "Even Narendra Modi shied away from answering my questions on development and on comparison between UP and Gujarat. Do the people of Gujarat have the facility of free medical treatment, education, unemployment allowance and laptops for children,’’ he asked. Blaming the previous BJP and BSP governments in the state for power crisis, he said not a single megawatt of power was increased in their regime. "In the present SP regime, 2000 megawatt of power has been added," he claimed.
Yadav defended the Samajwadi Party Government in UP over law and order issue and other controversial matters "law and order in UP is better than any other state in the country,’’ he claimed while saying that the crime rate in Delhi was much higher than UP where there was a population of 200 million. Hitting out at the media, he said family disputes and petty crimes were being termed as law and order problem which was unfair.
The SP president also supported state minister Chitranjan Swaroop for dancing with a girl recently in western UP. "Dance is a very good exercise and there is nothing bad if anyone dances,’’ he commented. He also refused to accept the demand of a Muslim cleric for removal of senior party leader Naresh Agarwal. "He wins the election with the support of all communities. How can I remove him,’’ he said.