Rahul: Under fire

New Delhi, April 1: Amar Singh today took a dig at Rahul Gandhi?s maiden Lok Sabha address by accusing him of reading out a speech that others prepared.

?He is a kid...A young man. We do not want to expose him. He has read out something prepared by others. He is being misled,? the Samajwadi Party general secretary said after the party?s working committee meeting here.

He was referring to the first-time Amethi MP?s speech in the Lok Sabha on March 21 in which he criticised the Samajwadi party-led government in Uttar Pradesh for not paying sugarcane farmers their due and thus not complying with a Supreme Court order.

Singh detailed the state government?s help to cane growers and attacked the Congress-led Centre for its ?stepmotherly treatment? of Uttar Pradesh.

The country, he said, would not be able to move ahead if its largest state remained backward.

He criticised the Congress for its ?anti-people? policies and said over 100 MPs of his party and the Left were opposed to the way the Centre was trying to introduce patent laws.

Singh opposed the introduction of value-added tax and assailed the BJP for trying to introduce it during NDA rule.

Answering a question, the Samajwadi Party leader said he had still not forgotten the dinner meeting the Congress president organised soon after the general elections last year where his party was left out. ?Only dogs and beggars go without invitation,? he said quoting some Congress workers.

He brushed aside Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayavati?s demand for President?s rule in Uttar Pradesh, saying it was fortunate that central rule was not enforced on mere demands.

Singh announced that his party?s national convention would be held in Patna from April 21-23 as Bihar had turned out to be a ?fertile? territory for the Samajwadis. The party, he said, had won four Assembly seats in Bihar and lost four by wafer-thin margins even after contesting on its own.

He ruled out any support to the Janata Dal (United) to form a government in Bihar till it broke ties with the BJP. Singh was briefing reporters about the national executive meeting that, too, was held here today.

Singh said senior leader Janeshwar Mishra had suggested to the party working committee that a confederation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh be forged in view of the increased people-to-people contact.

?When we suggested it earlier, we were criticised, but because of pressure from the people, leaders of the three countries are now holding talks,? he said. ?If not a confederation in the physical sense, at least the three countries could have cricket and hockey teams to take on other countries and send a message of brotherhood and unity.?