‘Congress no waste basket to accept Amar Singh’

The Congress will not roll out a welcome carpet for Amar Singh should the expelled Samajwadi Party leader want to join the party, reports Saroj Nagi.

The Congress will not roll out a welcome carpet for Amar Singh should the expelled Samajwadi Party leader want to join the party.

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“The Congress is not a waste paper basket,’’ said Satyavrat Chaturvedi, senior leader bluntly while ruling out any possibility of the former SP member joining his party.

Along with Singh, Lok Sabha member Jaya Prada was also shown the door by the SP.

Spokesman Manish Tewari, “What the SP does with its MPs is entirely its prerogative… The clash between the supporters of socialist orientation and overtly capitalist disposition was bound to manifest itself one way or the other.’’

AICC general secretary in charge of UP Digvijay Singh also seemed to cold-shoulder Singh. “Let him approach first,’’ he said when asked whether Singh would join the party.

After taking “due diligence”, other party leaders presently see Singh as a liability rather than an asset, particularly in Uttar Pradesh where the Congress is trying to consolidate the gains of the Lok Sabha elections—when it won 21 parliamentary seats—and emerge as a force on its own in the 2012 assembly polls.