By IANS,
New Delhi : Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh Tuesday blamed Congress leader Digvijaya Singh with misguiding the Congress high command and causing strain in the relations between the two parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
“Leaders like Digvijaya Singh are misguiding the Congress high command. The statements emerging from the Congress party are very disheartening,” Amar Singh told reporters.
“Digvijaya Singh will be held responsible if ties between Congress and Samajwadi Party are strained further,” he added.
He was reacting to Digvijaya Singh’s remark Monday that the Congress didn’t approach the Samajwadi Party with a “begging bowl” for seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh. Amar Singh said: “We helped the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government when it was facing its worst crisis after the Left Front withdrew its support. We came to the Congress’ rescue. Instead of being grateful, the party leaders are issuing such statements.”
Appreciating the support of Samajwadi Party in helping the UPA during the trust vote, Digvijaya Singh, Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, had said: “The Samajwadi Party is a secular party and it has contributed to helping us curtail the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and it has been effective in doing so. But we are not standing with a begging bowl (hum bheek ki katori leke khade nahi hain) and want an honourable agreement and want the Samajwadi Party to analyse which party is strong in which seat.”
Singh said he had never said that the Congress party is a beggar but added that the Congress too should realize that even “Samajwadi Party is not a beggar”.