Govt has 1000 hands, can use CBI to put one in jail: Mulayam

Lucknow, April 3:

finally revealed on Wednesday the reason why the Samajwadi Party (SP) continues to offer outside support to the

despite his increasing discomfiture over some of the decisions taken by the ruling

.

Pointing out that the central government exercised much power, he said: "Sarkar se ladna asan nahi hai. Sarkar ke hazaron haath hote hain. CBI ka upyog kar sakti hai...jail me dal sakti hai" (It is not easy to fight with the government. It has thousands of hands and can use CBI and put one in jail)."

Mulayam was interacting with newspersons here and made the above statement when one of them asked why the SP is not withdrawing support to the UPA. This is the second time in the past six days that he has accused the Centre of misusing the CBI.

On Mar 29, the SP chief similarly said that the Congress had obtained his party's support by threatening to frame him in certain cases. "I supported the UPA government in bad times but Congress has put CBI after me," Mulayam rued.

Of late, his party has been unhappy with the Congress. The differences between the two parties came to the fore when Union minister Beni Prasad Varma repeatedly hit out at Mulayam. The Steel Minister first alleged that the SP chief "has links with terrorists". He also noted that Mulayam had accepted a "commission" for supporting the Congress-led government.

Though the Congress high command forced Varma to express regret for these remarks, Mulayam was not satisfied and demanded an open apology in Parliament.

Incidentally, the SP chief said the other day that the Lok Sabha polls slated for 2014 could be held this year itself. According to political observers, Mulayam was giving a clear hint that the UPA cannot count on his party's outside support for too long.

Their analysis seems to be correct as the SP supremo exhorted the party's functionaries on Wednesday to gear up for the general elections. At a closed-door meeting here, Mulayam reportedly told his supporters to redress the grievances of people and strengthen booth committees.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)