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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The resentment in Congress party against film star Amitabh Bachchan for throwing in his weight with rival Samajwadi Party came to the fore on Friday with party general secretary Ambika Soni alleging that Bachchan's blood donation campaign in Uttar Pradesh was being electorally exploited by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Bachchan, who was the Congress party's star campaigner during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure, fell out with party chief Sonia Gandhi and switched loyalties to the Samajwadi Party.
In a letter to the chief election commissioner, Soni complained that Bachchan's blood donation camps and distribution of artificial limbs in Uttar Pradesh violates the model code of conduct.
"These camps are being used by top leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, who are fighting a life-and-death electoral battle in the state to gain political mileage for their party," Soni told the CEC.
She said that to organise such functions during election campaign, the Samajwadi Party was working against the election code and requested the election commission 'to take action and curb such activities'.
Earlier, party general secretary Oscar Fernandes had also complained to the CEC that in Manipur party candidates were being forced by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak/Muivah) to withdraw from the fray.
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