Mulayam accuses Cong of double speak on Batla encounter case

Lucknow, Jan 16: Accusing the Congress of double speak, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today demanded that the party either sack general secretary Digvijay Singh or take action against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram on the Batla House encounter case.

"Congress is not serious on the issues pertaining to Muslims and treats them only as a vote bank. That is why when assembly polls are underway, the issue of Batla House encounter has been raised by party leader Digvijay Singh, who termed it as fake.

"Why has this issue been raised by him now? Congress should either sack him or take action against PM and Home minister, who feel that the encounter was not fake," Yadav said.

Alleging that the Congress is misleading Muslims, Yadav said that SP's stand had been that the encounter was 'fake' and it had been demanding judicial inquiry into the matter but no action has been taken yet in the matter by Congress-led UPA.

"Congress leaders are making contradictory statements in a planned manner. It's a conspiracy, which will only help communal forces. One the one hand, they are becoming sympathisers of the Muslim community by terming the encounter as fake, and on the other, toeing the party line that it was a fair encounter .... This is just a political gimmick to befool Muslims, who are being treated as a vote bank," he said.

Claiming that the UPA was shying away from ordering a judicial probe, Yadav pointed out that it was "SP which had sent its leaders Amar Singh (not in SP now) and Ram Gopal Yadav after the encounter in 2008 and they had arrived at the conclusion that encounter was fake."

During an operation against suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists in Batala House in Delhi in September 2008, two suspected terrorists, Atif Amin and Mohamed Sajid, were killed while two other suspects, Mohd Saif and Zeeshan, were arrested.

PTI