‘UP Cong should join hands with SP to fight communal forces’

LUCKNOW: Raising the banner of revolt, Congress MLA Vivek Singh on Thursday said the state party should either merge with the Samajwadi Party (SP) or align with it to fight communal forces in Uttar Pradesh.

“The state Congress organisation is not in a position to fight the BJP led by Amit Shah. Under such circumstances, the Congress has been left with no option but to merge with or align with the SP,” said Singh. He further stated that only two leaders — SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma — had the guts to fight the communal forces.

“I had sent my views to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and a copy each of the same to All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Madhusudan Mistry and Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Nirmal Khatri. I was later asked to send my views through an email, which I have done now,” said Singh, adding he was awaiting a reply from the party.

Although appointment of some workers in the party organisation in Bundelkhand region without his consent is said to be the main reason behind Singh’s move, still the timing of his statement has come into question.

Singh’s statement has come when the party had announced candidature of the chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Castes, PL Punia, for one of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats. Singh, however, said his statement was in no way connected to the party’s decision to field Punia for Rajya Sabha. “Punia is my good friend. I have no complaints against him,” he said. Another party leader, Subhash Srivastava, asserted that the party should have fielded former UPCC president Arun Kumar Singh Munna for the RS seat.