Amar Singh terms PM's statement 'anti-rural'

Etawah, UP, Dec 24 (UNI) Samajwadi Party (SP) General Secretary and Uttar Pradesh Development Council Chairman Amar Singh today termed the statement of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on UP's leadership as ''anti-rural''.

Addressing a gathering at the conclusion of Saifai Mahotsav here, Mr Singh said the Prime Minister's remarks showed how anti-rural he was.''Since Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav represented a rural background, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre did not appreciate him as it was inclined towards the world bank,'' Mr Singh said.

Mr Singh added that the Prime Minister's statement should not be taken seriously as he was apolitical. ''He is making such statements at the behest of someone else,'' he quipped without naming AICC President Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Singh claimed that during the three year rule of the SP-led government in UP, the state has managed investments to the tune of Rs 84,000 crore.

While functions in Amethi and Rae Bareli (represented by Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi in Parliament) were not considered anti-people, a similar festival in Saifai (the home town of CM Mulayam Singh Yadav) attracted a lot of criticism, he added.

With an eye on the UP Assembly elections -- 2007, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday said UP desperately ''needs a forward looking and modern leadership and people of the state need a government that will invest in their future.'' Dr Singh had said after presenting the Laxmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Awards at New Delhi.

UNI MB/ATI NAB SP DB2212