Amar Singh tapes hint underhand deals?

Tapes of controversial tapped conversations of Amar Singh suggest possible under-the-table agreements between the former Samajwadi Party stalwart and Indian corporate honchos, media reports said on Thursday.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday had lifted a 2006 gag order on the publication of the conversations, paving the way for the media to dig up details of the wily industrialist-cum-politican?s communications for public consumption.

Lifting the gag order on the tapes that span between Dec 2005 and Jan 2006 which supposedly include chats Singh had with business tycoons, Bollywood stars and journalists, the court said “there has been suppression of facts by Amar Singh in the case”.

Picking up on the tapes, reports on Thursday splashed transcripts of Singh?s conversations with industrialists like Anil Ambani, Khushagra Bajaj, Jai Prakash Gaur that allegedly suggested a ?persistent and incestuous? relationship between politicians and corporates.

Though the authenticity of tapes are not verified, Singh seemed to vouch for the tapes as he said that the conversations that may seem inappropriate are in fact informal chats between parties that did business together, NDTV said.

He asserted that as a businessman he was entitled to ?pursue his interests? but he never influenced government decisions despite once wielding reasonable stature in the Samajwadi Party that ruled Uttar Pradesh for years and from which he was later expelled.

?I am two-in-one. I am a businessman and a politician. I can always talk business with others. As Chairman of the UP State Development Council I had talked on issues which concern the interest of businessmen and farmers alike,? Singh was quoted as saying.

?I had the power of my tongue but had no power to take decisions. I am not a saint. But I am neither a villain as is being projected,? he said.