Mayawati's Man Friday joins Cong

Lucknow, Sep 26 (UNI) Panna Lal Punia, once considered the Man Friday of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP national president Mayawati, today joined Congress with some supporters.

Mr Punia, a former IAS officer, was the principal secretary to Ms Mayawati.

He was considered close to the BSP leader and played a crucial role in day-to-day running of the BSP-BJP coalition in the state.

Talking to reporters after joining primary membership of Congress, Punia said he was considered close to the former CM as he was a bureaucrat posted as her principal secretary. ''It was the media which claimed I was close to Ms Mayawati...I was just a bureaucrat posted as her principal secretary,'' he claimed.

He said except Congress, all other parties had a short-term prespective on issues such as development. ''In my opinion, Congress is the only national party in real senses...my family and I had been impresed with the ideology of Congress,'' he claimed.

To a poser the former bureaucrat said, the ruling Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party dispensation was involved in corruption.

''The free distribution of sarees, unemployment allowance and Kanya vidyadhan scheme were aimed at winning votes ahead of the assembly elections...these will not help,'' he quipped.

He, however, refused comment on his alleged involovement in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) scam. ''The matter is sub-judice...my forthcoming book 'Eye Witness' has lot of details including the THC issue,'' he replied.

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