Rashid Alvi downplays 'Mulayam BJP agent' remark

Moradabad/New Delhi - Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi on Thursday clarified his earlier remark where he called Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav a BJP agent, saying it was made in the context of the municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the different political outfits are pitched against each other.

"All political parties are taking part in the MCD and mayor elections. I had a public meeting in Moradabad last night, it was not a press conference. There is not much between the lines to be read. Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi has given a comment now, which is the opinion of the party," said Alvi.

Congress Party has outrightly rejected Alvi's statement, saying that it is in favour of uniting all secular forces.

"Party does not approve of this.... the Congress has always been in favour of uniting all secular forces," said Janardhan Dwivedi said.

Alvi had earlier launched a frontal attack on former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for the Samajwadi Party's work in the state, and accused him of dancing on the tunes of the BJP.

"I don't know if you all will like what I am going to say. But I have been saying this for the past 10 years that if there is an agent of the BJP, it is Mulayam Singh Yadav. If there is anyone in the country, who dances on the tunes of BJP, then that man is Mulayam Singh Yadav," Alvi told a gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad District.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) earlier in the day demanded an apology from Alvi for making such derogatory remark against Mulayam.

Samajwadi Party leader Shahid Siddiqui asked the ruling Congress Party to take strong action against Alvi if he has not followed the party's diktat.

"Mr. Rashid Alvi is the spokesperson of the Congress Party and I hope that he has made this statement after taking permission from his president Sonia Gandhiji. And if he has not, then the Congress Party should take action against Rashid Alvi. Rashid Alvi should apologize to Mulayam Singhji, should apologize to the people of Uttar Pradesh," said Siddiqui.

"Rashid Alvi by making this statement has shown his own frustration, has shown the frustration of the Congress Party. And I hope that he will apologize for this statement," he added.

Emphasizing that Mulayam Singh Yadav is the agent of the people of this country, Siddiqui said the people of Uttar Pradesh have justified it through their votes in the state assembly polls.

"So far as his statement is concerned, people of Uttar Pradesh have already given a reply by their vote and told the nation who is secular and who is not secular, who is the BJP agent and who is the agent of the people, agent of the Muslims of this country," said Siddiqui. 

"There is no other leader in the country in the past now or in future, who is as popular among Muslims, among minorities, among the poor as Mulayam Singh Yadavji," he added.