Sonia treating Mulayam like US treated Saddam: Amar

Gwalior, Mar 5 (UNI) Accusing the Congress of playing the politics of vendetta, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh today said that All-India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi was treating Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in the same manner as the United States treated late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

''The SP conducts the politics of simplicity and purity,'' he told journalists while on a visit to this citadel town to canvass for his party's nominee in the run-up to the March 8 parliamentary byelection.

Sarcastically describing the Central Bureau of Investigation as the ''Congress Bureau of Investigation,'' he placed a questionmark on its impartiality. ''There (Bofors-scam accused Ottavio) Quattrocchi's account can be restored, (Railway Minister) Lalu Prasad gets absolved in the fodder scam and the Taj Corridor case against (Bahujan Samaj Party President) Mayawati can remain pending,'' he quipped.

Mr Singh referred to a compact disc, by one Vishwanath Chaturvedi, containing several objectionable statements regarding Congress apex leaders and also the judiciary.

''I have met (communist leader) Prakash Karat in that regard and will meet President A P J Abdul Kalam and Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat tomorrow,'' he added.

Allegations being levelled against Mr Yadav and his son Akhilesh ought to be discussed in detail in the Lok Sabha and the Assembly, Mr Singh felt.

''In Madhya Pradesh, the public have understood that the (ruling) BJP and (main opposition) Congress are hand-in-glove,'' he claimed.

UNI