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Sonia doesn't owe her position to SP: Cong.

LUCKNOW: Taking umbrage at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's reported statement that Sonia Gandhi owed her position in the UPA to the Samajwadi Party, the Congress today said the SP had always made attempts to strike at the AICC chief and the party.

"Its a white lie. Sonia Gandhi does not owe her current position in the UPA to the SP. It has always tried to weaken her and the Congress," UPCC President Salman Khurshid told reporters here.

The SP not only opposed Gandhi but also "gatecrashed the UPA dinner party as an unwanted guest", he said.

"Perhaps there is something wrong in his own (Mr. Yadav's) party. His coalition partner Ajit Singh (RLD) is not happy with his performance," Mr. Khurshid said and claimed that several senior SP leaders were ready to quit owing to the "fear psychosis" inside the party and confusion outside.

Firing another salvo, he said: "by spending a few hours with former US President Bill Clinton, Mr. Yadav thinks that he can equal the Congress President. Was Mr. Clinton told that even while he was here several children died of encephalitis in Gorakhpur and Mr. Yadav did not find time to visit the place".

Mr. Khurshid also accused the State Government for not allowing the helicopter provided by the Amethi Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for aerial spraying of encephalitis-affected areas of Rae Bareli and Sultanpur districts.

The UPCC chief evaded a reply when asked whether the Congress would withdraw its outside support to the SP-led government, but said Mr. Yadav did not command majority in the Assembly.

PTI

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