Don't preach secularism, Amar Singh to CPM

Criticising the CPI(M) for criticising Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for the affidavits filed on the Babri mosque demolition in Ayodhya, he said there were instances when the CPI(M) came out to support the BJP.

Referring to the Samajwadi Party's demand for imposition of the President's Rule in UP during the Kalyan Singh regime, Singh said the CPI(M) opposed the move and helped the BJP.

"We do not need a certificate from the CPI(M) or its leaders for our secular credentials," he said making it clear that the Opposition unity in the present context was fractured.

Referring to Yadav's role in preventing the Babri mosque demolition in 1990, Singh said it was not the CPI(M) cadres or leaders who prevented Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists.

That Singh chose strong words to convey his message shows that the strains in the relation between Yadav and the CPI(M) had reached a breaking point.

Defending Yadav's decision to invite Union Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and Union Commerce and Law Minister Arun Jaitley for a lecture to the UP Cabinet on economic issues, he said the similar exercises were undertaken by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the SM Krishna governments. "Shou-rie and Jaitley came as Union ministers and not as BJP leaders," he said.

But Singh's fulmination against the CPI(M) became aggressive when he referred to the BSP, which was invited to the Opposition meeting by Somnath Chattarjee.

"We will not share any forum with the BSP," he said, adding the BSP supported N Modi even after the communal violence in Gujarat.

In a move that may compound the CPI(M)'s predicament, he said if the CPI(M) chose the BSP as an ally, the Samajwadi Party would stand alone and fight the BJP on its own terms. Singh's outbursts against the CPI(M) have buoyed up the BJP's camp.