Samajwadi Party national general secretary Amar Singh Friday said that Varun Gandhi has become the new poster boy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and surpassed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in delivering "hate speeches" directed against Muslims.
"Muslims continue to live in
fear under the shadow of the ruling BJP headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat. The Samajwadi Party is now seeing Varun Gandhi as the new poster boy of the BJP in the country," Singh told reporters after his arrival at Harni airport here.
Singh is on a day-long visit to Vadodara and Bharuch in central Gujarat to meet Muslims in the two districts on an invitation of his party workers.
He said the Samajwadi Party would field candidates from seven of the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat.
Launching an attack on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Singh said Mayawati has not left veteran BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the bitter breakup of the two parties in 2003 in Uttar Pradesh, and both parties are again planning to form an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls to counter the Samajwadi Party.
Asked if the Samajwadi Party was planning to contest the Lok Sabha polls with a sizeable seat sharing arrangement with the Congress, Amar Singh said: "There had been no talk with the Congress party regarding any seat sharing arrangement. What we can say right now is that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) cannot form the government at the centre once again without Samajwadi Party support."