Beni Prasad Verma an insane, doesn`t know how to behave: SP

Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma kicked up another controversy with his barbs at friend-turned-foe Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A day after Beni Prasad Verma kicked up another controversy by saying that Mulayam Singh Yadav was not even fit to sweep the Prime Minister`s residence, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday reacted to the Union Minister`s sting. Hitting back at Verma, SP leader Kamal Farooqi called him insane, adding the Congress leader does not know how to behave. "What can be said about an insane person who does not know how to behave and what language to use? It is very surprising and unfortunate that the Congress is not acting against him," Farooqi said. "We have been asking our workers to maintain restraint. If the Congress is not acting, then we presume that the Congress has let him free. They are forcing us to act," he added. On Tuesday, Verma`s remark against friend-turned-foe Mulayam Singh Yadav drew instant rebuke from the Congress. "Yadav wants to become Prime Minister. He should first try to get the job of a sweeper at the residence of the PM," 77-year Verma had said at a programme in Uttar Pradesh`s Faizabad. Notably, Verma was once a close confidant of the Samajwadi Party supremo but was gradually sidelined after Amar Singh came into the picture. The Kurmi leader quit the party in 2007 and joined the Congress before 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. Disapproving of Verma`s remarks, Congress once again ticked him off for his remarks against Yadav, saying it was "regrettable and the party totally distances itself from that". "I do not know whether he has said anything like this, but if he has done so, it is regrettable. Mulayam Singh Yadav is a big leader and has been in politics for a long time. Verma was an old friend of Yadav." "The party totally distances itself from it. It has nothing to do with it," party spokesman Meem Afzal said in Delhi. (With PTI inputs)