Babbar says three projects that he tried to bring to Agra were deliberately scuttled by Amar Singh. He gives graphic details about the manipulations behind the moves. "I was going around begging people to pass them but no one listened." Meanwhile, the Taj Mahotsav was hijacked by Amar Singh and, Babbar attended only the opening function where Mulayam was present. "I somehow persuaded Mulayam to announce the launch of an international airport between Agra and Mathura. I cleared it with the civil aviation ministry but they never wanted it to take off," he says. But the real crunch came when Babbar persuaded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clear a Rs 300 crore project for bringing clean drinking water to Agra. He produces the files to show that the top bureaucracy from Delhi cleared it. But the UP government failed to send in a budget with expenditure under various slabs. "I begged them but they did not send it. I am still furious," he says.
Although Babbar himself is not important, the issues he has raised are. Besides, it can be seen as both foolhardy and courageous for someone who hopes to survive in Uttar Pradesh politics to actually stand up and take on the might of Amar Singh and company. It did not take long forUPCC chief Salman Khursheed to articulate this sentiment: "It takes guts to open one's mouth against Amar Singh. Many people are feeling suffocated in the SP but now the problems are coming to the fore." Amar Singh on his part merely said: "If someone has a problem with me they should convince Mulayam Singhji. I will abide by his instructions."
Mulayam has already made it clear that he will sink or swim with Amar Singh. Babbar, meanwhile, is daring the party to convert the suspension into an expulsion (whereby he could keep his LS seat even while joining another party). "Why should I leave the party? I am meeting my friends in the Communist parties, the true socialists and the Congress. As for the SP, I will sit on their chest and torment them."
