New Delhi, June 21 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui on Thursday hit back at Rashid Alvi for calling his party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav a BJP agent, and demanded that the Congress spokesperson should tender an apology for making such derogatory remark.
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 Gandhi. And if he has not, then the Congress Party should take action against Rashid Alvi. Rashid Alvi should apologize to Mulayam Singh, 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 Yadav," he added.
Alvi had earlier taken potshots at former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for the Samajwadi Party's work in the state, and accused him of dancing to 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 to the tunes of BJP, then that man is Mulayam Singh Yadav," Alvi told a gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad District.
Alvi's remark could now lead to a major controversy, as it comes at a time when the SP supremo has come out in support of UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee for the President's post. (ANI)
