Cong-SP ties on the rocks, admits Amar Singh

In a violent and visible deterioration of ties between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress a day after Rahul Gandhi's diatribe against the Uttar Pradesh government, SP general secretary Amar Singh launched a fierce attack on the Congress and virtually warned the party that it would not be wise to take the SP for granted.

In an interview with Karan Thapar for BBC's HardTalk programme, Singh said he and his colleagues had been "discarded, rejected and very shabbily treated" by the Congress top leadership.

Singh said he was made to feel "unwanted" at a dinner hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi shortly after her election victory in May, and said the Congress chief only acknowledged his presence at the end of the evening with "a cold nod".

"I am ashamed I went there. I should not have gone there. I was not invited (but) CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said: "The venue is Gandhi's home (and) all the forces who are responsible for the day, for the installation of a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, we are assembling there. I will go in your car, I will sit with you."

"Just to avoid that visit to 10 Janpath, I said, 'You are inviting me to come with you, but how can I go without Ajit Singh?' Surjeet said, 'Okay, get him along as well.' He forced me to come." Singh said insults were heaped on him at the meeting. First, the group was made to sit outside "in a small chair".

"Each one sitting in the room, particularly from the Congress side except Ghulam Nabi Azad, they gave me very, very cold looks. If looks can kill, I was almost killed," Singh confessed.

Singh said he objected when Jairam Ramesh read out the names of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partners and the SP's name was missing. At this point AB Bardhan of the CPI intervened on the SP's behalf.

Significantly, Singh said at this point the meeting discussed the format of the support to be offered by members of the secular alliance to Gandhi's prime ministership. This disproves the theory Gandhi had decided to renounce the prime ministership at the very outset.

Singh said Gandhi only acknowledged his presence with a "cold nod". Surjeet sat with him and "pacified my hurt feelings," he said.

On the SP's dealings with Congress, he said: "I would be lying if I say there is no trouble. Definitely, there is a troubled relationship. I think I have got many friends in the government. They do not want to openly admit (to it) but they are very helpful and they keep (the) relationship clandestine because they do not want to invite the wrath of the high command. So I think it is emanating from the top, from the (Congress) party, not from the entire government. I would say in (the) Congress, everything is decided at the top."

So I would not like to name the person because I am a gentleman and I have given my word. But the problem comes from the top, definitely."