By IANS,
Lucknow/New Delhi: All seems to be well again in the Samajwadi Party camp. Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Monday termed the differences with Amar Singh, who resigned from all party posts last week, as a “family affair”, while Singh declared that all issues have been sorted out.
Terming the bickering between him and Amar Singh as a “Samajwadi family affair”, Mulayam Singh Yadav said in Lucknow, “I have had a talk with Amar Singh who assured me that he will come down from Dubai to be with us at the closing ceremony of the Saifai Festival on Jan 21. So where is the question of any misgivings?”
He hastened to add: “Even if there were any misgivings, it is for us to sort these out.”
“Amar Singh will be chairing the closing session of the Saifai Festival,” he told reporters shortly after inaugurating the 14-day cultural event in Saifai in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, about 250 km from here, which is Yadav’s home town.
Meanwhile, Amar Singh told a TV news channel from Dubai: “Things have been sorted out between us.”
However, he added that he would continue to press for acceptance of his resignation from party posts on health grounds.
Amar Singh, who was party general secretary, denied speculation that he was joining the Congress or the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“I am close to the NCP leaders including Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and D.P. Tripathi. I am friendly with many (leaders). That does not mean I am leaving my own home,” he said.
He also confirmed that he would attend the closing function of Saifai Fest on Jan 21.
“At a personal level, his (Mulayam Singh’s) word is my command. How can I not respond to his invitation, whether I remain in his party or not?”
Mulayam Singh was critical of National Congress Party (NCP) chief and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, to whom Amar Singh was understood to be sending feelers.
Flaying Pawar for the rise in food prices, Mulayam Singh said: “Pawar should have resigned for his failure to curb rising prices; but his refusal to do so reflects his lust and greed for power and money.”
Mulayam Singh’s cousin and national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who was also a Rajya Sabha member, too seemed to have softened his stand on Amar Singh.
“When there are four utensils in a house, they are bound to make some noise,” Yadav remarked, adding, “Amar Singh is like an elder brother to me, so both of us have a right to argue with each other. Please do not read too much into all that; and in any case, whatever our differences of opinion, these would be sorted out within the family.”