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Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday slammed the Congress for fielding Raj Babbar against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law in the Ferozabad Lok Sabha bypolls, but said he had nothing against Rahul Gandhi for campaigning for the party's candidate in the constituency.
"Out of respect, we did not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli (against Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and party chief Sonia Gandhi), but they have fielded a candidate against Mulayam Singh's daughter-in-law," Singh said.
Yadav's daughter-in-law Dimple, who is making her debut in electoral politics, is pitched against Babbar from Ferozabad parliamentary constituency.
To a question on Rahul campaigning in Ferozabad in favour of Babbar, the general secretary said, "I have no bitterness about the campaign."
He said, "Like the Indian police service, he and Rahul were members of the Indian political service and were both working for their respective political parties".
Singh also welcomed the decision of Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal to join hands with the SP in Ferozabad and said the move will help the two parties in the long run.
"The friendship will continue beyond the bypoll," he added.
He slammed Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for fielding Babbar in Ferozabad and said the seat sharing talks between the two parties ended, as the Congress wanted to field its candidates on SP's sitting seats.
"The Ferozabad seat was vacated by Akhilesh (Dimple's husband)... Digvijay Singh is a senior leader and should refrain form taking such steps," he said.