: New Delhi, Jan 28: With some Muslim faces within Samajwadi Party raising questions over Kalyan Singh’s growing closeness with the party, its leader Amar Singh today sought to justify the association with the former BJP leader, saying his past should not be taken into consideration.
Amar termed the opposition to Kalyan’s association with SP politically motivated as he insisted that the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is a “weapon” to “wipe out” BJP.
“After Kalyan Singh left the BJP, he joined the jehad for the total annihilation of BJP. His jehad and the pledge of the minorities to wipe out BJP are one and the same,” the SP leader told reporters here.
His justification came after some SP Muslim leaders, including MP Shafiqur Rehman Barq and Azam Khan, protested the party’s association with Kalyan, who is alleged to have been involved in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
“I am here to look at the present and not the past of a person,” Amar said, while contending that Kalyan's resignation from the BJP is “a big achievement for the Samajwadi movement”.
Pointing out that Kalyan’s association with SP was not any “new experiment” in politics, Amar took on those SP leaders who are raising questions over the party’s association with Kalyan. Amar recalled that when Mulayam Singh became the Chief Minister after the fall of the BSP-BJP government in 2004, Kalyan’s son Rajveer, who recently joined SP, was appointed as a minister along with another close aide of Kalyan, Kusum Rai. “Azam Khan of the SP was also appointed a cabinet minister along with Rajveer and Kusum Rai. Nobody then had objections,” Amar said.
Last week, firebrand SP leader Khan had issued a statement questioning the party's move to get close with Kalyan. “The then Advocate General of UP S M A Kazmi has raised objections over Kalyan's proximity with SP. He was the AG in that government which had the support of Congress. He never raised questions,” said Amar.
To a question on Kalyan’s role in the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the SP leader said “it was the Shiv Sena which played a major role in the incident.” He also took a swipe at Congress, saying its leader Arjun Singh had praised Kalyan before the demolition while some other Congress leaders had joined hands with him to topple the Mayawati government in 2004.
“In June, 1992 Arjun Singh had gone to UP as a Union minister to lead an agitation on Ayodhya. But he postponed his agitation and appreciated the Kalyan Singh government. I do not know what transpired between Kalyan Singh and Arjun Singh. Even if I knew, I would not like to disclose,” said Amar.
He said only the late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, the then UP CM Kalyan Singh and Arjun Singh can say what had happened.
Singh said Kalyan had the support of Congress leaders when he was working to topple the previous government of Mayawati. “RLD chief Ajit Singh, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress legislature Party leader in UP Pramod Tiwari and then UPCC president Jagdambika Pal used to meet Kalyan Singh at his residence (in Lucknow) when efforts were on to topple the previous government of Mayawati (in 2004),” Amar said. The SP leader said Sanjay Nirupam and Narayan Rane were earlier in Shiv Sena, which played a major role in the demolition of Babri Masjid but now are in Congress. “Now what do we do with them,” he said.
He said “even Shankersinh Vaghela (formerly with BJP) is now in Congress.” (PTI)
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