New Delhi: Sanjay Dutt's wife Manyata on Sunday became a bone of contention between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who are already having strained ties.
The SP suggested that the Congress leader Digvijay Singh had insulted Manyata when his response was sought after the party declared it will field her in place of Dutt for the Lucknow seat if the actor fails to get court clearance.
"I would like to tell Digvijay Singh that Manyata is the daughter-in-law of late Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt. She is the wife of actor Sanjay Dutt," SP leader Amar Singh told reporters. Digvijay Singh said he had not insulted anyone.
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Singh had on Saturday apparently feigned ignorance on Manyata's identity, asking on camera "who is Manyata?". On being told about her, he is said to have commented, "...oh Sanjay Dutt's wife!"
"I have never said who is Lakshman Singh? ... Oh Digvijay Singh's brother who is in the BJP! I have never said who is Sanjay Nirupam? ... Oh the former Shiv Sena leader who had abused Sunil Dutt and the late actor had filed a defamation case against him," Amar Singh said.
"The same Nirupam is now a Congress leader. If I start retorting like Digvijay Singh, then it would cause a lot of pain to him," said Singh. Both the Congress and the SP are on a collision course over seat sharing and government's response to terror.
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Amar Singh had earlier accused Digvijay of terming Mulayam Singh Yadav as a backstabber.
Digvijay Singh, however, refuted the comments attributed to him and claimed he had never said anything to insult the SP chief or others.
"I strongly refute that I have said things which had been attributed to me. I respect Mulayam Singh Yadavji and I am grateful to the SP that they have expressed faith in the ledership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.
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