Amar Singh on Tuesday invited Jaswant Singh to join the Samajwadi Party saying that the expelled leader was treated in an unjust manner by the BJP. He also added that on the Jinnah issue the SP was closer to Jaswant Singh than the BJP.
Jaswant Singh was recently expelled from the BJP for extolling Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. He wrote that Jinnah was a "great man" who has been "demonised" in India.
Jaswant Singh's expulsion has led to fissures within the BJP with senior leader Arun Shourie also coming out in the open with his views against the party calling it "kati patang" and called Rajnath Singh "Alice in Blunderland". Shourie also urged the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent ideologue organisation, to take more control of the BJP.
But Amar Singh did not extend the same offer to Arun Shourie, the other dissident BJP leader.

New Delhi, May 18 :  UP BJP leader Kalraj Mishra today said that Samajwadi Party had lost Muslim votes in the state due to the Kalyan Singh factor while the Dalit votes had also shifted away from the BSP.

"In Uttar Pradesh, SP lost Muslim votes to the Congress as Kalyan Singh had joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav," Mishra, party's election in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, told reporters here.

He added that there was a division of Dalit votes between the Congress and the BSP.

Mishra said that the BJP-NDA got 15 seats and came second in as many as 19 seats.

"The losing margin was very low," he said.

He attributed this shift in Muslim and Dalit votes away from SP and BSP respectively to the Congress as a major factor for the "good performance" of the BJP.

"So the BJP has not only gained in a number of seats but also in the number of votes," he added.

BSP supremo Mayawati
Venkitesh Ramakrishnan



Lucknow: The electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh is steadily acquiring the dimensions of a quadrangular contest. This is the impression as the campaigning for the 18 seats in penultimate phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh came to a close on Tuesday and the electioneering for the fifth and final phase — scheduled for May 13 — gathered momentum in the remaining 14 seats.

What was originally considered to be an electoral tussle between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which controls the State government, and the principal Opposition, the Samajwadi Party (SP), is no longer confined to that dimension. The two national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have made their presence felt in a sizable number of constituencies. In the process, it has become clear that neither of the two regional forces is going to match the dominant SP performance — 39 out of 80 — of 2004.

Splintered Minority vote

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav The factors that have contributed to this situation are manifold. These include the splintering of the Muslim vote in several political directions, the consequent advantage obtained by the Hindutva-oriented BJP, the appreciation that the social sector programmes of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has evoked among a number of communities particularly in rural Uttar Pradesh, and the virtual collapse of the Dalit-Brahmin brotherhood built by the BSP during the 2005 Assembly polls.
The splintering of the Muslim vote had become evident right from the first phase of polling on April 16, and that has continued apace in the later phases too. In 2004, the largest chunk of Muslim votes had gone to the SP. But the SP’s association with the former BJP Chief Minister, Mr Kalyan Singh, has divested the party of the favourite position among the minority voters. The SP is still preferred by the community in seats fought by its stalwarts, such as Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Akhilesh Yadav, but elsewhere it is moving in other directions.
Cases in point among the seats going to polls in the last two phases are Moradabad and Dhaurahra, where former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin and a former Union Minister, Mr Jitin Prasad, respectively are attracting large segments of Muslim voters as Congress candidates. In Rampur too, the opposition to the Kalyan Singh association by senior SP leader, Mr Azam Khan, is causing problems for Jayaprada, the party’s sitting MP from the seat.
Congress, BJP benefit The BJP had benefited from the split in the Muslim vote in earlier phases too. In the seats going to polls in the last two phases this advantage is palpable in Aonla and Meerut, among others. In Aonla, former Union Minister, Mrs Maneka Gandhi, is the BJP candidate. The collapse of the BSP’s Dalit-Brahmin brotherhood has led to the flight of Brahmin votes away from the party in constituencies such as Moradabad and Aligarh. In Moradabad, it is benefiting the Congress while in Aligarh the BJP is the beneficiary.
Amid the gains being made by the Congress and the BJP, the two principal parties of the State are holding on with the strength of their core vote base. The BSP’s Dalit vote base continues to prop up its candidates in seats such as Saharanpur, Bijnor and Nagina while the SP’s OBC (Other Backward Caste) vote base stands it in good stead in constituencies such as Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawa and Firozabad. Still, there is little doubt that both the regional forces are far behind their expectations at the beginning of the poll process.

Lucknow, May 4  AMar Singh, the Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha candidate from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, has been booked for allegedly giving money to voters, police said Monday.

A case has been registered against Anar Singh, a police officer said, adding the incident took place in Salempur village soon after he addressed an election meeting. Hathras is about 300 km from here.


Though the cash was distributed April 5, the case was registered Sunday on the directions of the district administration.

New Delhi: Does Mulayam Singh Yadav have assets disproportionate to his income? That’s the question at the heart of the case against him and the answer, going by CBI and Government’s internal documents, obtained by The Indian Express, varies — depending on which side of the UPA is Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party on.

So much so that in a startling admission, Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj told this newspaper: “The CBI has obviously targeted Mulayam Singh Yadav and (has) attempted to fix him. I told them that the case should be objectively re-examined.” What Bhardwaj does not mention, of course, is how his own role has been far from “objective.”

In March 2007, a case of disproportionate assets (DA) case was registered on directions of the Supreme Court on the basis of a PIL filed by lawyer Vishwanath Chaturvedi alleging that Mulayam had assets worth hundreds of crores.

Unusually, the apex court directed the CBI to submit its findings to the “Union of India.” The CBI completed its preliminary inquiry in October 2007 and claimed to have found “sufficient material” for a DA case. That same month, it filed an “Interlocutory Application” asking for permission to proceed with the probe “without further reference to the Union or State Government.”

That was an unusual assertion of its independence — an assertion that quickly unravelled.

For, the case took a brazen U-turn after July 22, 2008 when the Left withdrew support and the SP bailed out the UPA in the confidence vote on the nuclear deal.

Soon, the Government took the familiar route of intervention in CBI cases — via the Law Ministry and its law officers. Official records accessed by The Indian Express show how the Ministry of Law and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) — which has administrative charge of CBI — moved with alacrity to get the agency to reverse its stand.

On November 8, 2008, Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj signed a file asking for opinion of Solicitor General G E Vahanvati. The SG’s opinion, available with The Indian Express, demolished the CBI’s investigation. The law officer criticized the move to club the assets of the former Chief Minister with those of his family members stating, “Smt Malti Devi (Mulayam’s wife) and Dimple Yadav (his daughter-in-law) held no public office and there is no reference in the judgment about them holding any power or authority...It is not possible to club all assets and incomes together and conclude on the consolidated figures that there is a case...of holding disproportionate assets.”

While the CBI pegged Mulayam’s unexplained assets at Rs 2.6 crore, this was the SG’s final calculation: the former CM had movable and immovable assets valued at Rs 71.76 lakh; income and gifts totaling Rs 2.54 crore; expenditure totaling Rs 1.26 crore and thus the “surplus” of Rs 1.28 crore, in his view, “sufficiently accounts for the money for acquisition of the moveable and immovable assets of Rs 71.76 lakh.”

Concluding his opinion, Vahanvati said that “on the basis of the facts which I have set out” the Government should “look into CBI’s report” and also “consider” withdrawal of its IA, still pending before the Supreme Court.

The Law Ministry, on receipt of this opinion dated November 14, 2008, wasted no time in implementing the SG’s observations. So on November 17, 2008, Bhardwaj signed off on the file: “I agree with the legal opinion of the learned Solicitor General. The Department of Personnel may withdraw the IA pending in the Supreme Court.”

On December 4, 2008, a directive from the DoPT on the subject made one more revelation: the CBI had tagged the opinion of its Director of Prosecution, S K Sharma, along with that of the SG to justify its U-turn in the Supreme Court.

The CBI’s flip-flop invoked the surprise of the Supreme Court and the agency was asked to explain. During a hearing on January 27, 2009, the bench even indicated its anguish: “The direction in the judgment to submit the report to the Centre was possibly a mistake.” During a subsequent hearing, Vahanvati made a surprising oral submission: “My opinion in the case is no longer relevant.”

The second flip-flop in the case began to unfold as the Cong-SP relationship turned cold over seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh. And during the last hearing on March 31, the CBI informed the Supreme Court that it still “stands by its recommendations” made in the status report dated October 26, 2007 (in which a DA case is made out) and has acted in “utmost good faith.” It also asked the apex court to “ignore” the Solicitor General’s opinion in the case.

The next hearing of the case is May 5. The CBI is red-faced as it will have to explain its shifting stand. The Mulayam Singh Yadav camp is angry that the case hasn’t been wound up and his lawyers have submitted a set of 12 CDs in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court containing tapes purportedly of meetings where “negotiations” were allegedly held between CBI officials, law officers and SP leaders.

How authentic these tapes are or what’s on them may not be known yet but one thing is clear: so political has this case become that the next step in it will also be a test of which takes precedence — law or politics.

“We wanted that the Congress, the SP and the Trinamool Congress should fight together. Hence, I appealed to Mamata Banerjee to give us a single seat even if it’s is a losing seat. We supported Banerjee during the Singur issue. We also supported her during her rift with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Despite all of this, Banerjee did not even talk or respond to our phone,” Amar Singh said at a press conference here.

Singh also claimed that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been disintegrated.

“The UPA has not broken but has been disintegrated. But after May 16, it will again be integrated,” Singh added.

Bollywood actor-turned politician Sanjay Dutt, who accompanied the SP leader here, expressed his emotional gratitude.

“It is a very emotional moment for me. I want to thank Amar Singh to find the house where my mother was born. I was in the room for 10 minutes just remembering my mother. I want to thank Kolkata and its people as she was born here,” Dutt said.

Lucknow: Actress-turned-politician Jayaprada, who is the Samajwadi Party candidate for Uttar Pradesh's Rampur Lok Sabha seat, has been issued a notice for allegedly violating the model code of conduct during polls, an official said Monday.

"The notice to Jayaprada has been issued by the Rampur district administration for distributing packets of 'bindis' (worn by women on the forehead) to women in Rampur's Swar locality," Sub Divisional Magistrate B.P. Singh said.

The notice was issued late Sunday and Jayaprada has to file a reply by Monday evening. A case will be registered against her if she fails to do so within the stipulated time, Singh said.

Jayaprada and some of her supporters had Saturday distributed bindis with the Samajwadi Party symbol in Swar, officials said.

Rampur is around 250 km from Lucknow.

Khalilabad (UP): The discipline of the Dalit voter, the legend around the BSP core vote and anger at the Samajwadi Party has set Muslims thinking — unusually loud and clear this time.

How this plays out on counting day isn’t clear but the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh, 20 years after it left the Congress office, is seriously looking for a way out of what it calls the

bandhua mazdoori (bonded labourer) trap as part of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s flock under the Samajwadi Party banner.

And the way out, as of now, does not appear to lead to either the Congress or the BSP’s door.

There is no siesta in hot and dusty Khalilabad as campaign picks up in the virtually all-Muslim belt of village Ledua Mohua, with an estimated population of about 30,000.

This is one of the many regions in the freshly delimited Sant Kabirdas Nagar seat, where Muslims have played and continue to play a decisive role — approximately one-fifth of the voting population. (Muslims account for 19% of the state’s population).

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Polling here is in the second phase (April 23) but all conversation revolves around the “Mayawati effect.” It seems to have captured the imagination of Muslims, though not quite in the way Behenji might like it to work.

Muslims appear determined to make themselves count and “discover their own strength, ham bhi to apni taaqat aazmayein”, as Abdul Mughni puts it, who teaches Classes 3 and 4 in a madrasa here.

What does that mean in a stiff three-cornered contest? Son of local strongman Hari Shanker Tiwari (who from ministership in the BJP, moved to SP and is now with the BSP) Kushal Tiwari is the current MP, who made it in a by-election a year ago.

Lucknow, April 12 : Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who unveiled his party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls here Saturday, said the party is against English medium education and the use of computers and will work to ensure that they are curbed if a government is formed with its support.

"The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines," Mulayam Singh said at a press conference after unveiling the manifesto.

The party is also against the use of agricultural machines and high corporate salaries.

"A harvesting season brings employment for the labour class for at least six months but these harvesters will snatch their earnings.

"The salaries provided by private firms should be in sync with the minimum wages that have been set by the government. This is only the way to build up a strong national capital," he said.

"Previous governments have promoted forward trading, share trading and mall culture. Any government formed with our support will either reduce or stop it completely," he added.

The party's manifesto also mentions that it will work to abolish schools providing expensive education in English medium and provide free education for girls till graduation.

However, modifying this promise, Mulayam Singh said: "We will only press for removing the compulsory use of English language in education, administration and judiciary. We favour the use of national and regional languages."

He said the party will ensure that India has stronger ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh if a government is formed with its support.

"The Samajwadi Party will focus on increasing security at the borders and ensuring that India has better policies with regard to neighbours like Pakistan and Bangladesh so that the three countries develop together.

"The basic cause of terrorism lies in regional differences. The forums across the world which deal with the issue of terrorism work at the behest of America. If a government comes to power with our support, we will ensure that action is taken against communal powers and attack terrorism at its roots," Mulayam Singh said.

The manifesto also promises to take up the cause of the farmers and pressurise the central government to implement unemployment allowance scheme in the entire country.

"We will ensure that the agricultural land of farmers is not forcefully confiscated for industrialisation and besides ensuring profitable rates for agricultural produces we will make sure that the government drafts a national water policy.

"We have launched the unemployment allowance scheme (which provided monetary relief of Rs.500 per month to every unemployed youth) in Uttar Pradesh but it was withdrawn by the Mayawati government. We will ensure that this is implemented in the entire country," Mulayam Singh said.

Samajwadi Party leaders Sanjay Dutt and Amar Singh also attended the meet to present the manifesto that also promises welfare schemes for lawyers and the business community, besides the reinstatement of the 18,000 policemen of the state who were sacked by Mayawati.

New Delhi: Noticed something? Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is conspicuously absent from the Samajwadi Party campaign scene.


With party general secretary Amar Singh being a close friend, Bachchan had campaigned extensively in the assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh in 2007. He had even featured in the party’s ads. But it suffered an embarrassing defeat at that time.

And now Bachchan seems to be nowhere around the heat and dust of politics even though his wife Jaya Bachchan is a party MP. Although it is still unclear whether he has distanced himself or the party has dropped him, his absence is surely another star, Sanjay Dutt’s, gain.

Dutt, who cannot contest from Lucknow after the Supreme Court refused to suspend his conviction for owning illegal arms, has become the star campaigner of the party.

The party has already appointed Dutt as its general secretary and has declared that he will be campaigning throughout the country.

Guess Sanjay is just filling up for Amitabh.

Releasing the Samajwadi Party's manifesto in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on Saturday, the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav accused both the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for ignoring his party despite his outside support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during the trust vote.

'The prime minister and the Congress party have been ignoring us since the trust vote,' Mulayam Singh said and added that his party saved UPA government when Manmohan Singh was talking about resigning, if the nuclear deal had not passed.

Talking about the failed seat-sharing deal with Congress, he said: 'We were ready to give the Congress 17 seats and I was sure they could have easily won at least 14 of them with SP help. But they did not agree to this, and now let’s see how many seats they get.

During the July 22, 2008 trust vote in the parliament, the Samajwadi Party, with 39 MPs, had bailed out the government, when UPA’s Left allies withdrew support over the much-debated Indo-US nuclear deal.

Blaming the Congress entirely for the failed alliance in Uttar Pradesh, he said ‘there are some advisors who always consider themselves above the party, and Congress party leaders are responsible for the present situation as they followed the words of such advisors.’

Mulayam Singh Yadav further said that his party, along with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lok Janasakti Pary (LJP) Ramvilas Paswan, bailed the UPA government out of trouble on many occasions, but in the end, Congress party insulted him.

The SP supremo, however, expressed contentment over his alliance in Bihar with RJD and LJP where he expected to get a clear majority.

LUCKNOW: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of "overlooking and insulting" his party which had saved Samajwadi Party releases manifesto Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and general secretary Amar Singh at the release of party's manifesto in Lucknow. (Reuters) the UPA government from being voted out of power over the Indo-US nuclear deal. ( Watch )

"We saved you from resigning. Just think once what have you given us in return ... You overlooked us and at times even insulted us," Yadav said while releasing the party manifesto here.

The SP chief said the Prime Minister has now said that he was ready to resign if the nuclear deal did not go through.

Singh had on Friday said that he would have resigned if the Indo-US civil nuclear deal had not gone through.

The SP leader promised to tackle issues of terrorism, economic recession and unemployment if voted to power.

"We have addressed some important issues including how to tackle terrorism and economic recession and plight of the farmers in brief," Yadav said.

He said there were three important issues including that of agriculture, which have been addressed by the party in its manifesto.

"Gandhiji used to say that agriculture is like a god for a hungry man which except SP other political parties have forgotten. Without promoting agriculture, the country cannot progress," he said.

The SP supremo said that while security of international boundaries will be the priority of his party, the SP will also make efforts to maintain harmonious relations with neighbouring countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"We have always made efforts and will continue with its endeavour of maintaining good relations with the neighbouring countries. Till the time boundaries exist, terrorism can not be rooted out. The party is against the concept of boundaries," he said.

On unemployment, the SP supremo said that the problem cannot be tackled only by providing government jobs."The only solution to the problem of unemployment is setting up cottage and small and medium scale industries," he said.

Mulayam said that though there was some impact of global meltdown on the Indian economy, but economic recession could have been avoided in the country.

Lucknow, Apr 8 : After making a veiled threat that he may quit his party over differences with colleague Azam Khan, Samajwadi party General Secretary Amar Singh tonight ruled out his resignation asserting"everything is normal."

"I can leave the world but I can't leave the party," Singh said addressing a hurriedly convened press conference here shortly after his remarks in the backdrop of what he called abuses hurled at him by Azam Khan suggested a rift in the Samajwadi party.

He said there are no differences in the party over actress-turned-politician Jayaprada being fielded from Khan's hometown in Rampur for the Lok Sabha elections.

Amar Singh and Azam Khan have been locked in an uneasy relationship ever since Khan, an influential leader in western Uttar Pradesh, has been campaigning against Jayaprada's candidature in Rampur from where she had won in 2004.

"I know where I stand. The day I feel I had enough then I will say goodbye to Mulayamji and leave the party," Amar Singh said in the strongest remarks yet on his role in the Samajwadi party earlier in the day.

But hours later Amar Singh described these comments as an"off the cuff remark" and asserted," There is nothing wrong.

Everything is normal. There are no differences." Mulayam Singh Yadav is my mentor and there is no question of rift, Singh said, adding he had strong ties with the SP supremo and that none can break it.

New Delhi, Apr 2 : Bollywood actor-turned politician Sanjay Dutt today appointed national general secretary of Samajwadi Party.

The Bollywood actor today briefed media about his new role in the party after the Supreme Court turned down his plea to contest Lok Sabha plea form Lucknow Parliamentary constituency.

However, he denied to comment on his earlier remark that a Union Minister threatened him.

When reporters asked him to name the minister he categorically denied and said Amar Singh could announce the name in this regard.

New Delhi, Mar 31 : Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's plea to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections was today rejected by the Supreme Court which refused to stay his conviction in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

"We are not inclined to suspend his conviction," a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said.

"It is not a fit case to grant stay of conviction," the Bench also comprising Justices P Sathasivam and R M Lodha said.

Dutt had been fielded by the Samajwadi Party as its candidate for Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

Further details awaited.

Vadodara: Though the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were unable to have a pre-poll alliance, SP General Secretary Amar Singh on Friday indicated that his party is not averse to have an alliance with the UPA-led government.

The pre-poll alliance in UP, will not be an issue after the poll results, as Congress will not be able to form the Government without SP's support at the Centre, Singh said at Harni airport on his arrival from Uttar Pradesh.

"As we are a secular party and Congress will need our support in its efforts to form the government at the Centre," Singh said.

Singh was in Vadodara to make announcement that SP will put up seven candidates in Gujarat.

"My party position is weak in Gujarat as we have no base but we will contest seven seats in the state to improve our position here," Singh said.

New Delhi, Mar 16 : Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday ruled out the possibility of his party joining the Third Front saying with CPI-(M) leader Prakash Karat at its helm, he saw no such hope.

"Had comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet been the general secretary of CPI(M) then I would have seen some hope in this possibility as he differentiated between personal and political differences. But with Prakash Karat being at the helm, I see no such hope now," Singh told reporters.

Singh made the remark when asked if there is a possibility of SP joining the Third Front if the Mayawati-led BSP walked out of the alliance.

"Recently, I wanted to meet Karat on a very personal issue. He refused to meet me claiming that I was with Congress. One of his Politburo members told reporters that 'Amar Singh wanted to meet, but we refused'," Singh said.

He said the media had highlighted "my reported insult" at a dinner meeting at Sonia Gandhi's residence.

"I do not know whether I was invited there. Left leaders took me with them. My treatment there was their responsibility. Had the Left parties defended us then, the SP would not have remained isolated...they did not bother about our reported insult and continued with their support to Congress," he added. The SP leader also said, "After spending four-and-a-half years with Congress, Left parties now oppose it. But today we have ideological similarities with Congress. Even if we may not have an alliance on seats with it, ideological understanding is very much there with Congress."

Amar Singh further said, "Out of L K Advani, Mayawati and Manmohan Singh, we consider Manmohan Singh an ideal person" (as a Prime Minister)."

Attacking the various Third Front constituents, he said BJD shared an alliance with BJP for 11 years. "Now the reason why they have split is due to differences over seat sharing...even after the rape incidents of nuns in Kandhamal, Patnaik continued to run the government, despite pressure," he alleged.

"Similarly, till a few days back, Kumaraswamy had an alliance with BJP in Karnataka, and they shared good relations, now the JD(S) is anti-BJP," Singh said.

The SP leader reiterated that without Sonia Gandhi and Congress, no anti-BJP Government was possible after the Lok Sabha elections.

Saifai: The Samajwadi Party (SP) landed in fresh trouble as the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is accused of distributing money to people, violating the election model code of conduct.

According to the reports, the party workers distributed money to people at a Holi celebration organised for SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav at Saifai.

SP workers handed out Rs 100 to every person present at the celebration, as a part of tradition followed here for years.

District Magistrate and SP of Ettawah city have rushed to Saifai to inquire about the case.

However, the rival parties are leaving no stone unturned to blow this matter against the SP leader. Several national parties have demanded a strict probe an action in the case.