Hurt SP asks Congress to 'mend' behaviour

Samajwadi Party on Friday asked Congress to "mend" its behaviour complaining that its leaders were treated as "beggars" when they went to congratulate the Congress leadership over its victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

Samajwadi Party on Friday asked Congress to "mend" its behaviour complaining that its leaders were treated as "beggars" when they went to congratulate the Congress leadership over its victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

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"When our people went there (Congress leadership), the Congress workers, who were dancing in jubilation said don't come, you have come to seek something....I don't know what sort of (psychological) complex is this," senior SP leader Janeshwar Mishra said in the Rajya Sabha.

"We were treated as beggars," Mishra said participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address to Parliament. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present in the House when he spoke.

Recalling the "humiliation" heaped on party leader Amar Singh when he went to a dinner along with CPI-M veteran late H K S Surjeet in May, 2004, Mishra said he was subjected to similar treatment.

"Amar Singh was told don't come...Dogs go uninvited to feast, but Amar Singh had gone along with comrade Surjeet...We want you to mend your behaviour and desist from using such language," Mishra said.

SP had spurned Congress offer for an alliance in 2004 maintaining that it wanted to keep equi-distance with both the BJP and Congress. In the just-concluded elections, the two parties failed to reach electoral understanding despite protracted talks.