Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that he is indebted to Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh for all the sacrifices that he has been making to ensure that the party not only remains intact but also grows.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, the SP chief denied that Amar Singh was gaining out of party and also reaffirmed his charge that a Mumbai-based business tycoon was conniving to kill him.

On his continued defence of Amar Singh, Mulayam said: "He did not want to become general secretary of the party but I forced him to hold the post. He did not want to be sent to Rajya Sabha and it was my decision to send him there as our representative and he agreed reluctantly. He has been taking good care of the party even at the cost of his personal health."

The chief minister rejected the charge that he was soft towards the Bharatiya Janata Party and that the two parties could join hands post elections. "I cannot do that. BJP is not a secular party. BJP and Congress see me as their enemy number one. In fact, all parties in the UP elections are targetting out party," he said.

He ruled out any truck with the Congress because of the insults flung on Amar Singh when he went uninvited at Sonia Gandhi's house three years ago when the United Progressive Alliance government was being formed.

"How can we join hands with those who insulted our party general secretary at 10 Janpath," he said.

He claimed that someone in the Congress has misled Rahul Gandhi against his government.

"We never thought Soniaji counts us amongst her enemies," he said.

A confident Mulayam declared that his party would get 200 seats in the assembly elections and would not need support from any party.