No candidate against Priya Dutt: Samajwadi Party

Lucknow, April 3 (IANS) A day after naming Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt as a general secretary, the Samajwadi Party Friday stated that it would not field any candidate against Dutt's sister Priya Dutt, a Congress MP from Mumbai.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh told reporters here: 'We will not field any candidate against Priya Dutt. We have a lot of respect for Sunilji (Sanjay Dutt's father, the late Sunil Dutt).'

Priya Dutt is an MP from Mumbai (North-West).

This was in reciprocation for the Congress having decided not to contest the Lucknow seat when Sanjay Dutt was named the Samajwadi Party candidate. He was barred from doing so by the Supreme Court earlier this week because of his conviction in a criminal case.

Amar Singh, however, said that the Samajwadi Party would field candidates against Congress MP Milind Deora (Mumbai-South) and the party's candidate for Mumbai (North) Sanjay Nirupam.

Sanjay Dutt had stated that despite his father Sunil Dutt's strong objection, the Congress had given a ticket to Sanjay Nirupam who had joined the Congress after quitting the Shiv Sena.

Amar Singh, who is also the party general secretary, was speaking at a joint press conference with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Lucknow. The three parties have decided to contest the elections together.

Sanjay Dutt, who was present, reiterated that he would remain with the party irrespective of the fact that he would not be able to contest the elections.

The Samajwadi Party had announced last month that it would not field candidates against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi even if the party has no seat sharing agreement with the Congress.