George joins Mulayam Singh against Congress

Lucknow, June 27: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today found his old socialist companion George Fernandes on his side to fight Congress on various issues.

During his meeting with the CM, NDA convenor Mr Fernandes made a scathing attack on Congress alleging the party had implicated him in the defence coffin scam by lodging 38 cases.

''The woman in Congress is shameless for targetting me and other opposition leaders,'' Mr Fernandes alleged during his chat with mediapersons.

The JD(U) MP -- who is being politically isolated in his home turf of Bihar -- announced support to Mr Yadav in his fight against Congress. He also appreciated the CM for honouring emergency detenues in UP.

The SP chief on the other hand clarified Mr Fernandes was his old friend and their party affiliations mattered little. Both the socialist leaders are former defence ministers of the country.

''There are several friends in different political parties and we share our views from time-to-time and even support each other for genuine causes,'' the SP chief said.

Meanwhile, senior congress leader Siraj Mehendi alleged the coming together of Mr Fernandes and Mr Yadav showed proximity of SP with BJP.

''Mulayam is inching closer to BJP and RSS by announcing the honorarium to emergency detenues as most of them were RSS cadre,'' Mr Mehendi claimed.

UNI