New Delhi: The war of words between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress continued unabated today (June 11, 2004) with SP General Secretary Amar Singh asserting that he would continue to ignore Rahul Gandhi as he remained a "bachcha".

"I will follow his (Rahul) advice of not taking a bachcha seriously and will continue to ignore him," he told reporters after his meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram to press for an economic package for Uttar Pradesh.

To a question on why Congress had turned against SP lately despite extending support to Congress-led coalition Government at the Centre, Singh quipped "Sonia Gandhi is a big leader, I cannot offer suggestions to her," apparently referring to her attack on Mulayam Singh Government on the law and order situation in the State.

In fact, the law and order situation in Delhi and Mumbai was much worse than in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said and cited the incident of rape of a diplomat near Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi.

Asserting that his party was committed to maintaining the secular fabric of the country by fighting communal forces tooth and nail, Singh said the election verdict clearly showed that it was Samajwadi Party, which defeated "communal leaders" like Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi and Swami Chinmayanand in the State.

"Actually it was Congress that played the spoilsport by splitting secular votes in the State", he said citing that Congress-backed candidate in Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency Ram Jethmalani finished seventh with just 40,000 votes whereas SP party nominee Madhu Gupta finished second only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee securing over two lakh votes.