PM's UP talk shows anti-rural bias: SP

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark that UP desperately "needs a forward-looking and modern leadership and people of the state need a government that will invest in their future" has, expectedly, drawn the wrath of Samajwadi Party, which has trashed the observation as Congress high command Sonia Gandhi's 'own view'.

"He is making such statements at the behest of someone else," Samajwadi Party (SP) General Secretary Amar Singh said on Sunday without naming Mrs Gandhi.

The SP leader also termed the PM's statement as 'anti-rural', since Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav represented a rural background.

Amar Singh said the PM's remark showed how anti-rural bias.

"Since Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav represented a rural background, the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre did not appreciate him. The UPA was inclined towards the World Bank," he said.

Amar Singh also said that the PM's statement should not be taken seriously as he was apolitical. He claimed that during the three-year rule of the SP-led Government in UP, the state has managed investments to the tune of Rs 84,000 crore.