``I am against the demolition of any religious place and had vehemently opposed the Masjid being demolished,'' he said.

Sakshi Maharaj, who was all praise for shere hind and dhartiputra Mulayam Singh -- who was also present on the occasion -- for inducting him into his party, said the Masjid had been demolished under a conspiracy hatched by the Sangh Parivar members, including Ashok Singhal, Acharya Giriraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and the Uddipi Shankaracharya. The conspiracy had the blessings of then prime minister Narasimha Rao too, he alleged.

He said the same people had wanted to demolish the idgah at Mathura but ``as the local MP, it was me who thwarted their plot''. The angry Sangh Parivar members had then presented him with bangles, he said. Later, some leaders, including Vajpayee, hadtried to implicate him in the Brahm Datt Dwivedi murder case, he alleged. ``I have joined hands with Mulayam Singh with the sole aim of ameliorating the lot of daridranarain (the downtrodden), the backward among all castes and minorities,'' the controversial sadhu said, adding that after joining the SP, he felt as if he had come out of a jail and returned home.

On relations with CM Kalyan Singh, he said it would continue even after joining the SP. ``I have friends in almost all parties,'' he said. When asked if would consider going back to the BJP if requested by Kalyan Singh, he said his departure from the BJP was final.

Flaying the Congress for launching a tirade against Mulayam Singh, he said its state party chief was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim and was trying to be the messiah of Muslims. The Muslims were still with the SP and in some seats they had voted for other parties' candidates just to defeat the BJP, he stated.

Describing the BJP as communal, anti-farmers, anti-workers and anti-poor, hesaid that had the Vajpayee Government raised diesel price before the election, the BJP would not have bagged even 29 seats in the state.

Addressing 10,000 people gathered for the occasion, Mulayam said his party would be indebted to Sakshi Maharaj for his help in cornering 26 seats. With Sakshi Maharaj in the party, there would be no difficulty in getting a majority in the Assembly polls, he hoped.