BJP alleges SP-BSP struck deal to escape jail

Varanasi, Apr 30 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today alleged that the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party had reached a consensus to save their leaders from being jailed in corruption cases.

''The BJP has come to know through informed sources that the two parties, through a prominent industrialist of the country, have struck a deal to not press for sending to jail their prominent leaders facing trial in corruption cases,'' former union minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told newspersons here.

''Even a post-poll alliance between the SP and the BSP cannot be ruled out in UP through the help of the same industrialist, but that will not harm the electoral interest of the BJP, which is heading towards a majority in UP,'' he asserted.

The remaining two phases are crucial for a clear majority of BJP, but if it fails to get a thumping majority, it will certainly be the single largest party in the state, he added.

The BJP leader alleged that ''there was a threat to the traditional Banaras silk industry. Unbridled import of cheap Chinese silk and thread has brought the world-famous silk industry of Varanasi to a moribund state.'' ''We demand immediate imposition of anti-dumping duty on Chinese silk paralysing the hallmark of Varanasi,'' Mr Sinha added.

He accused the Mulayam Singh Yadav government of neglecting the interests of Purvanchal (East UP), but stopped short of demanding a separate state.

UNI