We will not sever friendship with Left: Amar to Jaya

New Delhi, Sep 11: Further cracks in the nascent UNPA appeared today with Samajawadi party general secretary Amar Singh ruling out any possibility of distancing the alliance with the Left parties, which are opposed to Ms Jayalaithaa's AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. ''The CPI and CPI(M) are our old supporters and Mr Prakash Karat had stood by us when the Centre wanted to impose Presidents rule in Uttar Pradesh,'' said Mr Singh.

His remarks came while responding to queries of reporters on AIDMK leader Jayalalithaa's statement that she had not been consulted over the UNPA's support to Left rallies at Visakhapatnam.

Yesterday, AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP V Maitrayan had criticised the Samajwadi party for participating in rallies and demonstrations of the Left parties.

Mr Maitreyan had also accused Mr Singh of playing "dirty games" as he had given the excuse that the AIADMK leader was not available despite having her cell phone number. To this, Mr Singh said that it was just a case of ''sheer communication gap".

''The AIADMK MP had said that the Left parties were our enemies, but to me there are no enemies in politics and these parties are just political opponents, Both CPI and CPI(M) are our traditional friends,'' said Mr Singh.

When asked whether the UNPA still existed after the rift with the AIADMK and wether Ms Jayalalithaa was drifting towards the BJP, the SP general secretary only said,''Ask Ms Jayalalithaa.'' Mr Singh was addressing a joint press conference here with other senior party leaders to announce that the party would be fielding former prime minister Chandra Shekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar from Ballia.

UNI