Sanjay joining us shouldn’t disappoint Priya: Amar

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh Wednesday said Congress MP Priya Dutt should not be disappointed about her film star brother Sanjay Dutt joining his party as he was supporting the central government.

Sanjay joining us shouldn't disappoint Priya: Amar

"Priya should not be disappointed (about Sanjay joining the Samajwadi Party) and should know that it is because of our support that the Congress government is surviving at the centre," Amar Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, Priya Dutt had told reporters in Mumbai that although she was 'disappointed' that Sanjay Dutt had chosen to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket, she would always support him.

"There is a disappointment that Sanjay has joined the Samajwadi Party. But If he wants to serve people through politics it's fantastic," Priya Dutt said.

"Neither Sanjay nor Manyata have confirmed that he is contesting the election. Just like their marriage, I came to know about it through the media. We haven't had any discussion on this in the family but there is no family feud. If the need arises, we as a family will support Sanjay," she added.

Last week, Amar Singh had announced that Sanjay Dutt would be the Samajwadi Party's candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow and if the star was not allowed to contest the polls because of the ongoing criminal case against him, Manyata would become the candidate.

Sanjay Dutt was convicted for illegal possession of an AK-47 rifle after the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. His appeal against the verdict is pending in the Supreme Court.

Priya Dutt insisted that it was incorrect to say that the Congress had been unjust to Sanjay Dutt and forced him to opt for the Samajwadi Party.

"We have always been loyal to the Congress party, we have been a Congress family and if needed our party could have tried to give Sanjay an opportunity to contest elections at an appropriate time," said Priya Dutt, who is the Congress MP from the Mumbai North-West constituency.

"It is his choice whether to contest elections or not and from which party. We are individuals in our family, we take our own decisions individually and take responsibility for it. I am not the kind of person who will wash dirty linen in public," she added.

"For us, maintaining our parents' name is very important. My father or my mother shouldn't be dragged into this."

Just a day after the Samajwadi Party declared its plans to pit its state party chief Abu Asim Azmi from the Mumbai North-West constituency, Priya Dutt was Wednesday quoted as saying by a newspaper that her brother had been 'manipulated' into contesting the election on a Samajwadi Party ticket by his wife Manyata.

"My father would never have associated with the Samajwadi Party. For the first time since he died I am thankful he is no longer alive to see this ignominy," Priya Dutt had reportedly said in the interview.

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