SP Central Board to decide on candidate to face Sonia

Hubli, Apr 5 (UNI) The Samajawadi Party (SP) Central Board will decide on fielding a candidate against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the Rai Bareli Lok Sabha bypolls, party General Secretary Amar Singh said today.

Addressing a press conference here, he accused the Congress of adopting its old culture of harassing those who opposed it and offering incentives to its supporters." ''Income tax raids on the premises of my relatives, besides (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J) Jayalalithaa and (TDP President) Chandrababu Naidu, are glaring examples of the Congress culture,'' he noted.

Predicting that the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party would bite the dust in the coming Assembly elections to Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Pondicherry, Mr Singh claimed that third forces like Asom Gana Parishad, SP, AIADMK, CPI and CPI(M) would emerge victorious.

About his party's stand on the office of profit issue, he said his party wanted the Government's actions to be transparent. Saying the party would renominate Ms Jaya Bachchan, who was disqualified as MP over the issue, to the Rajya Sabha, he asserted that even if she is disqualified 100 times, we will put her up as a nominee 200 times.'' Coming down heavily on the Congressmen for projecting Ms Gandhi's resignation as a great sacrifice, Mr Singh said the decision to quit from Lok Sabha membership and as National Advisory Council Chairperson was taken by Ms Gandhi after due consultations with her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Vadra, and not Congress leaders.

To a question, Ms Bachchan, who was also present, said she would wait till the Supreme Court verdict on the office of profit issue came and did not want to comment now.

SP Parliamentarian Jayaprada and SP State President S Bangarappa were also present on the occasion.

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