Amar Singh dares Mayawati to arrest Mulayam

New Delhi, May 14 (UNI) Smarting under decisive blows in the just-concluded assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party's high-profile General Secretary Amar Singh has dared Chief Minister Mayawati to put him and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav in jail, saying her ''vendetta politics'' would only benefit them politically.

Breaking his silence over his party's defeat in the assembly polls, Mr Singh said, ''I dare her to put us in jail. In fact, I would be happy if she puts us in jail because it would be politically advantageous to us. Remember, Indira Gandhi benefited after the Emergency when her opponents put her in jail.'' Accusing Ms Mayawati, who was crowned yesterday as the state's chief minister for a record fourth time, of ''vendetta politics", Mr Singh said her behaviour during the oath-taking ceremony was proof of her intentions.

''The Leader of the Opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav was present and she would not even greet him. If she wants to pursue vendetta politics, she is welcome to do so. I would be worried if she focussed on development and not on taking revenge on us,'' he said.

A member of the Rajya Sabha, Mr Singh claimed that he was ready to face any inquiry the Mayawati government ordered.

''For the last one year, I have been hounded by Soniaji's UPA government. My phones have been tapped, my friends have been raided, I have been harassed. If Soniaji could not do anything to me, who is Mayawati?" said the SP leader.

On reports that he was planning to leave the country, he said, ''Mayawati did not leave the country when she was defeated, why should I leave the country now? Victory and defeat is part of democracy. We will fight back, that I am sure of.'' Mr Singh who was later hospitalised today denied that he was feigning illness. ''I have had a kidney problem for several months now, but could not get it checked up because of the campaign. My health is important to me, why should I pretend to be ill?'' Asked about the reasons behind the SP's defeat, he said it was because of ''social engineering''.

''Mayawati won because of her social engineering, not because of any development agenda that she offered the people of the state,'' he argued.

He claimed that the real loser in this election was not the Samajwadi Party, but the Congress and the BJP. ''My vote percentage has not gone down, it is the Congress and the BJP which have lost ground. What happened to Rahulbaba and his roadshow? What happened to Rajnath Singh who was a former chief minister of UP? What happened to Beni Prasad Verma who got zero seats and the Jan Morcha who also drew a blank? All these parties tried to finish us, but we have done better than them.'' Mr Singh asserted that Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had been rejected by the people of Uttar Pradesh, not Mulayam Singh.

''UP is now a two-party state in which there is no Congress and no BJP,'' he said.

The SP leader did not agree with the view that ''goonda raj'' was responsible for the SP defeat. ''If goonda raj has lost, how come most of the so-called political goondas have won this election? And how come Mayawati has made ministers of people like Avadhpal Singh who were caught on camera in a sting operation?'' On Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan's high-profile campaign for the SP, he said, ''He did not campaign politically for the Samajwadi Party. And you cannot say that his message did not have an appeal.

Otherwise, how come we have got so many seats, and the Congress and the BJP have been wiped out.'' On the presidential elections, Mr Singh said his party would take a joint decision with the AGP, TDP and the AIADMK. ''We will not support a Congress candidate, but we are happy to consider a left candidate. A final decision will be taken only after all our leaders meet this week.'' UNI SKS VD KN1750