Mulayam endorses Ramdev campaign on black money

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Tuesday said he backed yoga guru Ramdev's campaign to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks.

Ramdev, who has been lobbying for support for his campaign and has met a series of political leaders, Tuesday called on Mulayam Singh at his residence.

"We are with baba in his fight against black money," Mulayam Singh told reporters.

Over the last few days, Ramdev has met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari, Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar and Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ajit Singh.

"I am meeting Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tomorrow (Wednesday). I will also be meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in the coming weeks," said Ramdev, who is planning an agitation against black money and corruption on Aug 9.

Vowing to meet village council representatives to build consensus on the issue, Ramdev said he had also sought a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Attacking the union government, Ramdev said that in the last one year he had received over 60 notices on income tax and service tax and from the enforcement directorate.

"The government is trying to tarnish our image by coming up with false allegations against us every other day. I have written to the prime minister some 10 months ago that if there is any doubt about my organisation, then he can order a special investigation but there has been no response," he said.