Congress 'in touch with Mayawati'

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh yesterday said the Congress was in touch with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati through Governor TV Rajeshwar, but the Congress termed the remarks as speculative.

"I have been saying since the beginning [of the election campaign] that the Congress is in touch with the BSP through Rajeshwar," Amar Singh said in New Delhi and termed it as "track-II politics".

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said: "This [remark] is speculative. We don't want to comment on this speculation."

Coming down heavily on the Congress for "flip-flop" on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Amar Singh said: "Earlier Rahul Gandhi said Nitish was secular and now Manmohan Singh doubts his secular credentials. This flip-flop politics is beyond my understanding.

"It seems as if Nitish is a fish and Rahul and Manmohan are trying to catch him in their net," he said.

Amar Singh said the Congress should stay within limits and had no right to speak on the treatment meted out to SP general secretary Azam Khan.

"Did we ever ask them about the treatment they gave to Natwar Singh, Arjun Singh, M. Veerappa Moily and Margaret Alva?" a visibly angry Amar Singh said.

"We saved their government at the time of the [India-US] nuclear deal and they are teaching us how to treat people. They like it when Nitish shakes hands with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but they do not like Kalyan Singh joining the Samajwadi Party," he added.

He said it was a matter of shame the way Congress was conducting its politics. "They should remain within their limits," he said.

Attacking Khan, his bete noire within the party, Amar Singh said he was distributing "nude" photographs of former film actress and MP Jayaprada, who is the party candidate from Rampur Lok Sabha constituency.

"[Congress leader] Digvijay Singh and Khan conspired and distributed nude and morphed photographs of Jayaprada in Rampur. The fight of ballots cannot be fought with photos," said Amar Singh.

"We would be very happy if Digvijay Singh takes Azam Khan to his party. It will clear the dirt from our house," he added.