Thursday, January 5 2006 17:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Alleging that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had ordered the tapping of his telephone, Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh today (Jan 05, 2006) said he would move the Supreme Court 'very soon' demanding an impartial inquiry into the entire episode.

"I will drag all concerned to the court and prove my point," he told reporters after an half-an-hour meeting with Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the secretariat here.

Coming down heavily on the AICC general Secretary Ambika Soni for her remarks in the episode, he said he did not want a CBI probe into the issue, as suggested by her.

"It is well-known that CBI becomes the tool and arm of the ruling dispensation. It has given a clean chit to Satish Sharma in the Petroleum scam after UPA came to power at the Centre. It also cleared BSP leader Mayawati in the Taj corridor scam. Under these circumstances, how can I believe CBI," he asked.

Praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for describing the tapping as a 'serious matter', Amar Singh said other Congress leaders remarks on the issue were 'very cheap'.

On the arrest of a private detective agency man for the tapping, he said he did not want "any cover up on the issue. I want the real culprits to be booked. The man arrested, under police torture, may even name me", he said.

Only a probe by non-Congress, non-BJP Chief Ministers would be "impartial and unbiased," he said.

If the Delhi Police, which had filed a FIR on the issue, was entrusted with the investigation, it was like a 'criminal becoming a judge', Amar Singh said. It was the Delhi police, under instructions from those close to Sonia Gandhi, who ordered the tapping, he alleged.

"I do not want any scapegoats, like Madhavsingh Solanki in Bofors issue or Natwar Singh in the Volcker report. I want the real culprits to be booked," he said.

He alleged that the police had also ordered tapping of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's telephones also.

"The ruling dispensation treats everybody, who does not toe their line, as its enemies and not as rivals. It pursues a policy of elimination, which is dangerous," Amar Singh said.

He was made a target, simply because the Congress could not think of winning and forming its own government, unless it won in Uttar Pradesh. "They want to tarnish the image of Mulayam Singh and Samajwadi party through me," he said.

He said he would be meeting the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister along with Samajwadi party MPs and apprises them of the entire episode.

He would also be meeting Telugu Desam President N Chandrababu Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and seek their co-operation for an impartial probe into the episode.