Author:
Publication: Free Press Journal
Date: February 10, 2009
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh
on Monday lashed out at the Congress, saying if his party leader Mulayam Singh
Yadav was charged with corruption, "so could Sonia Gandhi or even Manmohan
Singh", signalling further strain in their already troubled alliance
talks.
Amar Singh said: "Just because of a court
case, does anyone become corrupt? I may also turn around and say that (Congress
president) Sonia Gandhi is corrupt, and so is (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh."
Singh was referring to a case of disproportionate assets pending in the Supreme
Court against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members,
which is to come up for hearing on Tuesday.
The petition against Mulayam Singh was filed
by a lawyer and a former Congress member, Vishwanath Chaturvedi, in the apex
court on Nov 29, 2005, charging the Samajwadi Party president and his family
members with possessing assets beyond their known sources of income.
Chaturvedi had demanded an inquiry by the
Central Bureau of Investigation, which was subsequently ordered. The agency
is yet to file its report before the court.
Amar Singh also accused the Congress of using
the CBI as a leverage against his party chief during the current seat-sharing
talks. "We supported the Congress-led government which has crossed all
limits to fix its opponents," he said at a hurriedly called press conference.
Complaining that the CBI had got the case registered on the basis of a PIL
without verifying it, he said, "If I claim that Taj Mahal belongs to
Manmohan Singh and India Gate belongs to Rahul Gandhi, will a disproportionate
assets case will be registered"? Singh demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress and the CBI should prove that
the alleged assets, including a cinema hall and a hotel, belong to Mulayam
Singh. Reacting to his charge, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said
the CBI is an autonomous organisation reporting directly to the Supreme Court
and Congress had no hand in the matter. Amar Singh said SP would not have
supported the Congress in July had the facts come to light earlier.
The SP leader said his lawyers would move
the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a probe by a court-appointed Charted
Accountant into the disproportionate assets case being investigated by CBI.
"If Mulayam Singh Yadav is found guilty, he should be arrested and tried
in the court," Singh added. "It is my demand and a challenge. If
it is proved that the properties belong to Yadav, then he (Yadav) has no right
to continue in public life. He should be arrested," he said. Amar Singh
drew other parallels. He said, "The Left parties were good when they
were supporting the UPA. When they withdrew support, a case was registered
against Pinirayi Vijayan (CPI-M leader) in Kerala. When seat-sharing talks
with NCP ran into rough weather, Praful Patel (Civil Aviation minister) was
targeted...It is not a coincidence that we have CBI's sword hanging over us
when we are having seat-sharing talks with the Congress. We are not scared
of the CBI."
