Lucknow: After baffling his party and others in the opposition a week ago by telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliament that he hoped he would return to power, Mulayam Singh Yadav has made yet another controversial remark by openly criticizing his son Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to tie up with rival Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Questioning why his son ceded “half” the seats in Uttar Pradesh to Mayawati’s party, 79-year-old Mulayam Singh said, “Who is finishing the party? Our own party people. It was such a strong party. We formed the government on our own three times. All three times I was chief minister, I was also defence minister.”
NDTV has quoted Mulayam Singh as saying, “Now, tell me what is the basis for giving away half the seats. Now we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger.”
It must be recalled that last month, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati announced their alliance in a joint press conference and said they would contest 38 seats each in 80-seat UP, leaving the two Gandhi family seats of Raebareli and Amethi and two more for smaller parties.