'Not easy to remove me': Mulayam hits back

Reeling under Congress member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi's attack on his government over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today hit back saying the situation in Mumbai and Delhi was bad and claimed it was not easy to remove him from power.

"Rahul Gandhi ki haisiyat nahin ki hum unka naam le (Rahul Gandhi's stature is not such that I take his name),"
Yadav said, reacting to Gandhi's comments on the law and order and power situation in the state and the need for a regime change.

"The law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh is better than in any other state in the country," Yadav claimed, adding those passing adverse comments should first look at the situation in Mumbai and Delhi. The two cities topped the crime graph in the country, he claimed.

Asked if he suspected any move to dislodge his government, Yadav said it was not easy to remove him.

"Sab jaante hain ki sarkar ko hatana itna aasaan nahin hai (everybody knows it is not easy to dislodge my government)," he said.

On the strained relationship with the Congress, Yadav said his party was supporting it despite being humiliated.

On party general secretary Amar Singh's recent meeting with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Yadav said no political meaning should be read into it.

"Vajpayee had some complaints about ordering a probe into the death of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator and Lok Sabha candidate from Gonda, Ghanshyam Shukla, last month," he said, adding that the state government would soon take a decision in this regard.

On the Congress's claims of legislator Akhilesh Singh, wanted by the law enforcement authorities, being allowed free movement in the the state legislature, Yadav said, "He has been elected to the Vidhan Sabha on a Congress ticket."

"As long as someone is in the Congress or the BJP he is a saint but he becomes a mafia member the moment he supports the Samajwadi Party," he said.

Akhilesh Singh's name figures in an FIR over the attack on Congress leader from Rae Bareli, Krishna Pratap Singh.

Akhilesh Singh, a legislator from Rae Bareli Sadar, had floated the Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal after being expelled from the Congress after his name figured in a murder case last year, and now supports the Samajwadi Party.