Mulayam's Amar boast haunts him

Lucknow: Mulayam Singh Yadav had on Tuesday turned towards Akhilesh Yadav and asked: "Do you know I would have been in jail had Amar Singh not helped me?" Today, the claim returned to haunt Mulayam from within the Samajwadi clan. "What does Netaji want to indicate by saying that Amar Singh saved him? A case was there in the Supreme Court and the CBI was the investigating agency. How can an individual save him?" Ram Gopal Yadav, Mulayam's cousin, asked in New Delhi. Ram Gopal, the Samajwadi general secretary and national spokesperson till two days ago, was suspended for six years for questioning the leadership of Mulayam and claiming that the leader was surrounded with sycophants. He had also suggested that Akhilesh be made the face of the party in Assembly elections due early next year. Asked about Ram Gopal's question on how Amar had saved him, Mulayam said today that he did not care about whatever his cousin was saying. But Vishwanath Chaturvedi, who had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court alleging that Mulayam and his family members have "acquired huge assets disproportionate to their known sources of income", said: "Whatever Mulayam is saying is true. Anybody else would have been in jail in such a case." The petitioner had alleged that Mulayam, on becoming minister the first time in 1977, had declared assets worth Rs 77,000 but acquired assets worth Rs 4.80 crore by 2005 by "abusing his power and authority". He had also alleged that Mulayam's properties were undervalued "while the market value was 10 times more than that mentioned in the affidavits and sale deeds." The Supreme Court had asked the CBI for a primary probe. "After going ahead in the case and filing a status report, the CBI started showing disinterest. Later, I moved the Supreme Court with a plea to ask the CBI to press ahead with the probe," he said. This application of Chaturvedi was dismissed in September this year. "But the case is still pending in the Supreme Court," Chaturvedi said. Amar could not be contacted for comment. Calls to his landline number in Delhi were answered by a person who introduced himself as Shailendra Rajput and said: "He is out of station."