The Congress’ strategy is to ignore Union minister Beni Prasad Verma attacking the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on every issue, to give Mr Yadav a message that the Centre is not depending on the SP’s support.
Mr Verma on Tuesday kicked up another controversy with his barbs at Mr Yadav, saying that the SP chief was not even fit to sweep the Prime Minister’s residence.
“Yadav wants to become Prime Minister. He should first try to get the job of a sweeper at the residence of the PM,” 77-year Mr Verma said at a programme in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad.
He prefaced his remark by alleging that the SP was a party based on “lies and fraud” and that it will be finished by the Congress. A Congress strategist and member of the party’s think tank said “it is between Verma and Yadav, we have nothing to say on it.”
The message is clear the Congress high command does not want to seek clarification from the senior Kurmi leader.
AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who is in-charge of party affairs in UP, has not sought clarification from Mr Verma.
The Congress does not want to be friendly with the SP in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
But for the record, the Congress spokesman Meem Afzal said in Delhi, “I do not know whether he has said anything like this, but if he has done so, it is regrettable. Mulayam Singh Yadav is a big leader and has been in politics for a long time. Verma was an old friend of Yadav. The party totally distances itself from it. It has nothing to do with it.” .
Asked by reporters whether the Congress would initiate disciplinary action against Mr Verma, Mr Afzal said that Mr Verma is a Union minister and wondered what action can the party take.