Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav ruled out an alliance with the Congress over the Lok Sabha seats of Kaiserganj and Agra from where Beni Prasad Verma and Raj Babbar had won the last elections respectively under its banner.

Yadav said this while addressing mediapersons on Saturday. “It will be a wrong move on the Congress’ part if they field Raj Babbar as their candidate from Agra. Samajwadi Party had won both these seats in the last elections. In case of an alliance with the Congress, we should be given the two seats,” Yadav said.

Discussions are still on with the Congress leaders on a possible pre-poll alliance, he added. He also demanded a ban on the Barjang Dal. “The Malegaon arrests have further ascertained the involvement of the members of the saffron brigade in anti-national activities,” he said. Demanding a judicial inquiry in the Batla House encounter, he said: “We are not against the police or any individual but only want a fair inquiry into the incident.”

Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee released a book on SP Rajya Sabha member Choudhary Har Mohan Singh Yadav at the Shiv Lok Mahila Vidyalaya. The Samajwadi Party chief was also present at the function.

Comparing the present political scenario with the past era, Chatterjee said: “These days, Parliament is without proper discussions and healthy debate. Rather than holding healthy debates, political parties are more inclined towards staging protests in Parliament.”

Chatterjee told the media that the country has taken several positive steps on issues like education, finance, employment and poverty eradication, but there is still a lot of scope for improvement. “With a united approach, all political parties should work on aforesaid issues, as it is extremely important for the development of the country,” he added.

Chatterjee said that the time has come for the youth to come to fore and participate in active politics.

“We need energetic youngsters who have the determination and the will power to guide the country in the right direction,”

he said.