New Delhi, Feb. 4: Expelled Samaj-wadi Party leader Amar Singh on Thursday accused the SP leadership of using him as a "dustbin", and warned that any further provocation would be "disastrous" for the party.
Addressing a press conference along with another expelled leader, Lok Sabha MP Jaya Prada, Mr Singh said his 14-year "journey" in the SP had been from a "dustbin" to "garbage".
He added: "Senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav called me ‘garbage’ in the party. If I am ‘garbage’, then SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is also ‘garbage’. My 14-year association with Mulayam Singh Yadav cannot be dissociated from this."
Mr Singh said he was blamed for only those decisions taken by the SP leadership which backfired, such as extending the hand of friendship to former BJP leader Kalyan Singh. He claimed that most of these decisions were taken by Mulayam Singh Yadav and his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. "Now I am being blamed. I am a kshatriya. Had they asked me to take responsibility for the wrong decisions they had taken, I would have accepted. But it is a conspiracy to blame me for everything which went wrong," Mr Amar Singh said, adding: "They (party leadership) should not compel me to open my mouth, otherwise it would prove disastrous."
He said when Jaya Prada was given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rampur for the first time, another expelled leader Azam Khan had supported the move as she was the only person who could have defeated Congress veteran Begum Noor Bano. "If it was wrong to give Jaya Prada the SP ticket for the first term, why was she nominated from the seat for the second time. It was Mulayam Singh yadav and Ram Gopal who had cleared her name," Mr Singh said.
Asked about his proximity with Amitabh Bachchan even after the latter became a brand ambassador for the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government, Mr Singh said: "The star has only agreed to campaign for Gujarat Tourism. He has neither supported the Gujarat riots nor the policies of the RSS. There is no question of my differences with him at all."
Ms Jaya Prada, reacting to her expulsion from the SP, said: "It has been the policy of the SP to use and throw. They took the benefit of those leaders who suited the SP. But when their purpose is solved, they are expelled... While I am not happy with the decision, I am not sad either. Now I will work for the Lok Manch of Amar Singh."
Age Correspondent