New Delhi, June 15: Seething after his wife was served an income-tax notice, Amar Singh today complained that the Congress should have called him an “item boy”, not an “item girl”.

That is exactly what the Congress spokesperson in Lucknow had said yesterday: “Just as an item girl in films crosses all limits to gain the attention of the audience, Amar Singh has become an item boy.... Before making any statement against Sonia Gandhi, he should realise her stature.”

But what is one twisted fact if it makes for a good sound bite?

Carried away by his own sense of humour, Amar asked: “Did I refer to the Congress as Mika who molested me?” Pop star Mika has been accused by item girl Rakhi Sawant of kissing her forcibly.

The Samajwadi Party leader was reacting after his wife, Pankaja Kumari, was served a notice by the income-tax department which is seeking details of her income during the past five years.

Amar dared the Centre to order similar action against him, warning that he would raise a stink in Parliament and outside. He suggested that the Telugu Desam Party could join the Samajwadi uproar in the House.

“I invite the income-tax officials to raid my homes. It would benefit me politically as it has in the past when Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayavati ordered raids against us (Samajwadi leaders) while she was in power (in Uttar Pradesh),” he told a news conference.

Amar said he would be unable to restrain hundreds of supporters from accompanying him to the income-tax office if the department serves a notice asking for an account of his wealth.

While he claimed his wife had replied to the notice, tax department sources said Pankaja was served a fresh notice after the authorities found a mismatch in her declared income and expenditure.

The department has also served notices to two companies in which Amar served as director, the sources said.

One of them, based in Noida, was subjected to a series of raids and fined over Rs 10 crore for tax evasion and other irregularities, they added.