Amar Singh defends Mulayam's affidavit

Lucknow, July 12: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh today defended the affidavit filed by the family members of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav before the Supreme Court requesting against making public the details of the assets owned by them.

Addressing reporters here, Mr Singh said since the matter was personal, the Yadavs had all the rights to request the apex court to keep the matter out of public domain.

When the attention was drawn to the statement of suspended party MP Raj Babbar's demand to make the income tax returns public, he said the Yadav family would not disclose their public details on the demand of Mr Babbar.

He said since the petitioner had based his PIL in the apex court on the affidavit filed by Mr Yadav before the Election Commission, there was no need to make the IT returns public.

The apex court had recently asked Mr Yadav and his family members, including MP son Akhilesh Yadav, to furnish the IT returns of the last six yrs on a petition. The next date of hearing is July 17.

Mr Singh wondered why no one was questioning the fact that the court had also wanted to know whether the petition was politically motivated.

There had been allegations that the petitioner was heading the PIL cell of UP Congress.

UNI