Samajwadi Party leaders got reprieve today when the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court granted a four-week stay against the arrest of party general secretary Amar Singh on the CD issue.The BSP had lodged an FIR against party chief Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh and other SP leaders with the Hazratganj police station on April 14 demanding action against them for allegedly sneaking into a BSP meeting, getting it filmed and distributing doctored version of those tapes and CDs to print and electronic media with the sole aim of tarnishing the image of senior BSP leaders.The SP general secretary had moved a petition seeking stay against his arrest on the issue yesterday on the plea that the FIR was lodged by a person (BSP state president) not involved in the issue. The court today came to his rescue and stayed the arrest for four weeks.An emboldened Singh said: ‘‘Mulayam Singhji and I were in Sambal and Ghaziabad yesterday, but the UP administration does not seem serious about carrying out her orders to arrest us. The policemen were saluting us instead.’’ Singh says the high court had already given a judgement in favour of Mulayam on a PIL for misuse of the CM’s discretionary funds.‘‘The stay has proved that there is one institution which can check Mayawati from reducing democracy to a mockery. The case on the CD issue was a fake one because nothing was doctored in that and it was proof enough on how she was collecting funds for the party forcibly,’’ said SP’s state general secretary Shivpal Yadav.Reacting to the stay, Mayawati issued a press release saying: “I am yet to see a more fearful guy than Amar Singh. He got a stay against his arrest even before the indications could begin.”The CM also held a press conference in the Capital, where she lashed out at her critics, many of them allies like BJP leader Rajnath Singh, accusing them of manuvadi (caste discrimination) politics. Stung by the accusation that she is on a vendetta spree against her political opponents, in the backdrop of the 170 FIRs filed against the SP two days ago, of which 137 are filed against the SP chief alone, Mayawati said: ‘‘Mulayam violated norms while disbursing money from the CM’s discretionary funds when in power before April 7, 1994. Whatever we have done is not out of political vengeance, but as per rules.’’Accusing the SP of attempting to confuse the issue, she said separate FIRs were being filed against the beneficiaries of the money who had put it to improper use. Singling out Mulayam, she asked: ‘‘Why was he silent when the Kalyan Singh government had registered an FIR against me in 1997 for alleged irregularities in the float pump purchase?.I was a former chief minister too then. Why take exception now? When action is taken against the daughter of a Dalit, no one speaks up.’’Mayawati also ridiculed Mulayam’s apprehensions that she would detain him under POTA saying she would not do any such thing against the SP leader or his supporters. Significantly, in reply to another query, Mayawati ruled out any support to the Anti-conversion Bill, an issue close to the BJP heart.
