Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh Thursday appeared to distance himself from Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan's income tax problems.

After publicly blaming Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the income tax notice sent to Big B, Amar Singh said: "I am not Amitabh Bachchan's spokesman. Neither my party nor I did ever try to make it an issue."

Amar Singh had earlier alleged that the income tax notices sent to Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya were meant to harass them.

While Amitabh Bachchan is a close friend of Amar Singh, Jaya Bachchan has been a Samajwadi Party MP.

"What have I done?" he asked. "I have not talked about Amitabh Bachchan's notices at all. It was the media that dug out everything. I have not spoken to anyone," Singh told reporters here.

He, however, put up a brave face over the income tax department's notice to his wife Pankaja Kumari Singh, reportedly asking her to declare all her properties and assets acquired during the past six years.

"I invite income tax officials to raid my homes. It will benefit me politically."

The income tax department has sent 37 notices to Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and their actor son Abhishek Bachchan in the last three months, according to published reports.

A group of people said to be Samajwadi Party activists had taken out a rally in Lucknow this week to protest against the income tax department's move.

They burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi. Singh said his party did not hold any protests in support of the superstar.