SP avoids confrontation with Kejriwal

Knows BJP, Congress remain main targets of IAC

Social activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal may be spewing venom against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh and his son Akhilesh Yadav accusing them of shielding external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, but the SP has been surprisingly restrained and guarded in its reaction.

Despite being provoked by India Against Corruption (IAC) activists over Khurshid, SP leaders have chosen to ignore’ Kejriwal and his team and ducked the queries thrown at them by the media.

During Thursday’s rally at Khurshid’s home turf of Farrukhabad, Kejriwal had dared Akhilesh Yadav to arrest the Union minister. He had also said Mulayam and his family fear the Central Bureau of Investigation and were therefore shielding Khurshid. ‘Chor-Chor mausere bhai’ (birds of a feather flock together), Kejriwal had said at the rally.

“UP government had already conducted a probe into the misappropriation charges against Khurshid’s trust and found that the charges were true. The state government, in its report sent to the Union government, had clearly said signatures of officials from ten districts had been forged,” he claimed.

Neither Mulayam nor Akhilesh chose to react to Kejriwal’s diatribe against them.
Senior SP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav also ducked the question. “We have nothing to do with Kejriwal. We are busy doing our work,” Shivpal said when asked to comment on the IAC member’s remarks.

Akhilesh was also mild when he had reacted to Kejriwal’s apprehensions over the probe into the trust. “The probe will take its course. How can anyone say that the probe will not be impartial,” he had said.

According to SP leaders, the party wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with Kejriwal at this juncture.

“The main targets for Kejriwal are BJP and Congress. We are not affected much by his campaign,” said an SP leader here.

The leader said the issue of corruption was a sensitive one and the party did not want to be seen opposing someone who has launched a campaign against corruption.
“It is a deliberate strategy. We are busy preparing for the Lok Sabha polls while the Congress and the BJP are busy fighting Kejriwal,” he added.