LUCKNOW:Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been keeping himself away from party campaigns in the first two phases of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, stepped out in support of his chhoti bahu Aparna in the state capital Lucknow on Wednesday.
Mulayam Singh, who has addressed only two rallies so far in Etawah—for his younger brother Shivpal—started off his public meeting by touching the sensitive Ayodhya issue. The SP patriarch said he had to direct the police to fire on Kar Sewaks when the Ayodhya dispute broke in 1990. It was a threat to national integrity and there were no other options to save the mosque which otherwise would have been destroyed by them, he added.
“Though it was a painful decision, it was essential too. Or else, Muslims would have thought that they had no one to go to,” said Mulayam.
Delving into details on the welfare schemes of the SP government, including pension allowance to poor women, unemployment allowance to youth, financial assistance and scholarships to girl students, he said, “We have always fulfilled all the promises we made to the public without faltering even once.”
Mulayam, who was sidelined in the party after son Akhilesh Yadav took over the reins as the new party chief following a fall out just ahead of Assembly polls in the state, cautiously ignored the SP-Congress alliance which he had been always opposed to. He also attacked the Centre over demonetisation. “It is a government of braggers who only believe in slogans and
not in deliverance,”he said.
Making a fervent appeal to the voters of Lucknow Cantt Constituency, he said, “Whether SP government is voted back or not, if Aparna wins, she will get all your works done this is my personal promise to you.” Later, in a bid to put up a united face of the family, SP Kannauj MP and Mulayam’s elder daughter-in-law, Dimple Yadav also addressed a public meeting in support of Aparna.