Amar Singh lashes out at Mah CM, Sonia

Mumbai, Nov 19 (UNI) Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today criticised Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for denying permission to his party to hold a public meeting in Mumbai on November 22 ''on the orders from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi''.

Addressing a news conference on his arrival here from Delhi, Mr Singh said Mr Deshmukh avoided his phone calls and failed to give any valid reason for denial of permission to hold a public rally at Shivaji Park. ''This obedient pall bearer, by obeying the dictat of the fascist madam of 10, Janpath, wants to strangulate democracy and throw our country back to the British era,'' he alleged.

Mr Singh wondered whether the Chief MInister wanted the Samajwadi Party to retaliate by denying permission to the Prime Minister and Ms Gandhi from addressing public meetings in Uttar Pradesh.

''The fascist mindset of the Congress has always dealt a severe blow to the peaceful agitations of socialists like Chandrashekhar, George Fernandes and their own Natwar Singh. UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav wanted to address the Muslims in Maharashtra and enlighten them on the grave injustice done to them by the successive Congress governments. The findings of the Sachchar Committee are a testimony to the denial of rights to Dalits and Muslims in Maharashtra,'' he said.

Mr Singh dared the Chief Minister and city Police Commissioner A N Roy to stop thousands of Samajwadi Party workers from congregating at Shivaji Park on Tuesday. ''I myself will court arrest along with other party workers,'' he said.

SP leader from Mumbai and Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi asked, ''How can Maharashtra government deny permission to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from addressing his followers. If the Mumbai Police cannot maintain law and order, then the Commissioner should resign.

SP workers will burn effigies of the Chief Minister and Ms Gandhi as a mark of protest,'' he added.

Meanwhile, a Samajwadi Party statement here said Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's intervention had led to the clearance of the public rally by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, but the Chief Minister was proving to be a stumbling block.

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