“I consider that Advani has made a direct attack on me through his comment that the Congress earlier did ‘lal salaam’ (a reference to the Left) while now it was doing ‘dalal salaam’,” Amar Singh said at a press conference here.

“Advani is using this kind of language out of sheer frustration at his dream of becoming the prime minister not materialising,” Singh said, adding “the SP was born to counter communal forces. Our support to the Government creates an obstacle in Advani’s dream”.

He also noted that the same Advani had come to pay ‘salaam’ to him some three months back, to present him a copy of his autobiography, My Country, My Life. Singh showed copy of the autobiography to the media, pointing out that in the note in the book, Advani called him a “brother”.

“I was elated that he had not only gone to present a copy of his autobiography personally to Sonia Gandhi but to me also some three months back. Now when he is accusing the Congress of doing ‘dalal salaam’, was I not a ‘dalal’ at that time? How can I become one within three months?” Singh asked.

The SP leader also took an indirect swipe at the Left for contemplating to vote alongside the BJP. “While Advani’s remarks were a personal attack on me, they also marked a significant development where the quarrel between ‘saffron (read BJP)’ and ‘lal (read Left)’ has completely vanished,” said Singh. “After the Congress it is Advani who has started doing ‘lal salaam’.”

Pointing out that Advani wrote in his book that he had met Mulayam secretly to keep the Congress out of government and also a recent incident when the BJP had offered the prime minister’s post to the SP leader, Singh said the Leader of the Opposition had several times in the past tried to pay his “dalal salaam”.

Expressing surprise at CPI leader A B Bardhan’s charge that MPs were being “purchased” for Rs 25 crore each by the UPA to ensure the Government’s victory in the confidence vote on July 22, the SP leader asked him to substantiate his charge.

“Bardhan is a respected leader, but he should authenticate his charge with proof. Even my MP has been offered Rs 30 crore by the BSP, but I have no documentary evidence. If proven, it should be prosecuted,” said Singh.

Singh also denied charges of corporate lobbying and took a dig at the Left parties for making these kind of accusations.

“When industrialist Ratan Tata meets West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for setting up his small car unit there, it is called progressive. If Mukesh Ambani meets Uttar Pradesh Development Council chairman Mulayam Singh Yadav, then it is called bourgeois politics. These double standards should not be there,” said Singh.