Mulayam helping BJP in Gujarat, says Cong

PATNA: The state Congress has sharply reacted to the statement of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav charging the Cong-ress of betraying secular parties in the ensu-ing Gujarat polls. Congress spokesperson Kripanath Pathak stated that the Samajwadi Party chief had announced that the party would not tie up with any other party for the Gujarat polls and would field candidates in all the assembly segm-ents.
Pathak stated that the move would benefit the BJP in Gujarat. Pathak stressed that the Samajwadi Party was virtually non-existent in Gujarat and therefore the Congress did not find it fit to ally with it in the state. He insisted that there is a direct fight between the communal forces represented by the BJP and the secular forces symbolised by the Congress.
"There is no third party," he stated. He warned that the people of Gujarat are fully aware of the fact that Mulayam Singh Yadav had fielded his candidates to help the BJP by dividing secular votes.
He stressed that Mulayam Singh Yadav should not do anything to damage the fight for secularism in Gujarat led by AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
In another development, the Congress expressed concern over the attempt by anti-social elements to kill Bihar Police Men''s Association president Jitendra Narayan Singh. He said that the police was yet to make any arrests in this connection.
He demanded strong action against the culprits as the development has had a demoralising effect on the police. The minority cell of the BPCC has also condemned the attack by extremists in Raghunath Mandir on innocent and unarmed devotees.
The general secretary of the cell Najmul Hasan Najmi stressed that it was a heinous crime to kill devotees of any religion and even God would not forgive them. Another spokesman of the party Umashankar Gupta stated that the extremist attack on Raghunath Mandir was a conspiracy to whip up communal violence.