The Samajwadi Party had planned to observe December 6, anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, as a “black day”, worried at losing its Muslim support base to the Congress. Instead, the party decided to take on the Congress on the Anil Ambani-owned Dadri power project, which recently suffered an adverse order from the Allahabad high court.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh questioned a seemingly contradictory stance by the Congress and the government on the issue. “Digvijay Singh has said he is happy with the Allahabad high court decision against the project, while (Pranab) Mukherjee had said the government has decided to distribute gas to Dadri project. So, is this Digvijay Singh’s stand or that of the Congress?” Amar Singh said.
Amar Singh said even petroleum minister Murli Deora supported supply of gas to Dadri, but Digvijay Singh was opposed, apparently due to personal interests.
On the accusation that he was speaking in favour of a corporate group (Amar has always sided with Anil Ambani), he said, “I am not batting for Anil Ambani. I am batting for NTPC, as it is a public undertaking and I am an elected member of Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU)”.
He described the Dadri agitation, which took place during the SP regime, a “sponsored agitation”, unlike Singur. But he desisted from speaking against the Allahabad HC’s decision. “In Mayawati’s rule, where might is right, protection can come only from courts,” he said. On whether the decision would be challenged in the Supreme Court, he said, “It is in the domain of Reliance Industries to decide future course of action.”
The SP will also come down hard on the Congress during the debate on the Liberhan commission report in Rajya Sabha (scheduled for Monday). It will question former prime minister Narasimha Rao’s role. Singh said he possessed letters from senior Congress leaders to Rao, protesting the latter’s apathy to the demolition.
“One leader went so far as to say that Rao was an RSS member,” Amar Singh said.
(With PTI inputs)
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