Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh said that elections may be held in January, 2009. "This is my calculation," he said at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday afternoon.
He said that he would be surprised if the Congress-led by Dr Manmohan Singh did not win. "Dr Manmohan Singh is a well known economist. He is a thorough gentleman. I would be surprised if Congress party led by him did not come back to power," Singh said.
He ridiculed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's claim that she would be the future prime minister.
Congress top brass prefer year-end election
He took special delight at all the attention he was getting. "I have no hesitation in admitting that I am controversial man," he said. He launched a tirade against Congress leader Digjivay Singh who had been talking to him about Uttar Pradesh. He told the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh that either there is a full blooded fight between the Congress and the SP or there is no fight. "There is no concept of a friendly fight. Why should our men give up their stakes just because someone with 5,000 votes from the Congress has staked claim for that particular seat," he said.
He elaborated in detail about the role played by L K Advani and Arun Jaitley in the cah-for-votes sting. He said, "I called both of them and told them that the original tape was with me and they could hear it. When I confronted Jaitley he said it was part of politics. I have not met him lately as he has claimed," Amar Singh explained.
He thanked Sonia Gandhi for removing SP rebels Beni Prasad Verma and Raj Babbar from his political path. He denied the charge that he had demanded the removal of the petroleum secretary. "I want them to work better," Singh said.
He maintained that he as a person has not made the demand of windfall tax because it would help his friend Anil Ambani or harm Mukesh Ambani. "Even in the United States and UK there is a demand for windfall tax so I have not done anything new. When Anil Ambani wanted land for the Dadri power plant, we put him in touch with the farmers and told him to sort out the matter," Singh said.
