MP defies party over double standards

Lucknow: Accusing his party leaders of double standards, a Samajwadi Party MP yesterday came out openly against a tie-up with the Congress party over the nuclear deal with the United States.

"If the Samajwadi Party issues a whip (to vote for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government), we will defy it," Munawar Hassan, the Lok Sabha member from Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters here.

Two state legislators - Gauri Shanker of the Samajwadi Party (Malihabad in Lucknow) and Kadir Rana of Rashtriya Lok Dal (Morna in Muzzafarnagar) promptly sprang to Hassan's defence.

Pointing out that even Bahujan Samaj Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati had avoided deals that would be deemed "anti-Muslim", Hassan warned: "Today we are three but in near future we will be 13."