The fear of a resurgent Congress making inroads into its vote bank consumed the energies of the Samajwadi Party leaders on second day of the party’s national convention on Thursday.

Party’s general secretary Amar Singh, in a recorded message from Singapore where he is undergoing a treatment, termed the Congress as the SP’s biggest enemy and asked partymen to brace up to fight it. He said the Congress was a more dangerous enemy than the BSP as it is “silent” and attacks like a “submarine or a drone missile”.

“The BSP will collapse under its own weight. The final battle will be between Congress and SP. We have to prepare for long battle as the enemy is clever,” he said.

Veteran socialist and SP’s oldest leader Janeshwar Mishra said he had “cautioned the party about extending support to the Congress on the nuke deal” and exhorted workers to launch a “do or die battle”.

Mulayam’s new-found friend Kalyan Singh underlined the need for focusing on the OBC voters and appealed to the people to “forget his past” (read his role in the Babri Mosque demolition). “Mulayam is a friend of Muslims and I am his friend. So I too am a friend of the Muslims. I will spend the rest of my life for Hindu-Muslim unity,” Kalyan declared. “Don’t spoil the future by raking up my past. Fifty four Backward castes constitute 62 percent of the population but a deep conspiracy is being hatched to keep them out of power.”

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