Cong-SP rift deepens; Amar attacks Cong

New Delhi, Sep 25 (UNI) The Samajwadi Party(SP)-Congress ties today appeared further threatened with the SP general secretary Amar Singh again expressing his disappointment over the stance the ruling UPA at the Centre had adopted on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The latest outburst of the SP leader comes close on the heels of the seat-sharing talks with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh having almost crashed.

The third round of talks on seat-sharing for Uttar Pradesh between the two parties was slated for later this week.

Addressing a press connference here, the SP General Secretray said he was disappointed over the attack of Congress MP Rashid Alvi on him.

''I am hurt. I also object to the way in which Raj Babbar and Beni Prashad Sharma's name is cropping up. I do not know what will be our relation with the Congress in future but I would like to maintain a good relation with Soniaji and Mammohanji, ''the SP leader said.

Mr Singh alleged that several Congress leaders were doing their best to frame him in the cash-for-vote scam. He also threatened to expose a lot of people in the Congress. So far what had happened was worse than a honey trap, he added.

The SP leader, who had already accused the Congress of betrayal in the context of Madhya Pradesh, said the party had not repaid the SP for the crucial support it had offered to it during the trust vote on the nuclear deal.

''We have supported Congress on the larger national interest. We did not support for PM's post or for some other ministerial berth,'' said Singh.

Coming to the cash-for-vote scam, the Samajwadi Party leader claimed that a BSP worker had demanded Rs five crore to change his version before the Parliamentary Committee probing the matter.

The BSP worker, whom he had named Azmat Ali, visited his residence this morning and allegedly demanded the amount for changing his statement he had given to the panel, Mr Singh claimed.

According to him, Ali came to his residence at around 0830 hrs and said he could give statement to the panel favourable to him.

Ali was to depose before the panel this afternoon to give his version.

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