NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav justified his invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his grand nephew's pre-wedding ceremony last week, saying he was the Prime Minister, not of the BJP, but of the country.
Speaking during the motion of thanks to President Address, Yadav said"Some people, including those in my village were wondering why I invited him to Saifai (in Uttar Pradesh). I invited the Prime Minister to my village as he is the PM of India, not of BJP," Yadav said.
After Modi had attended the function, it had led to speculation that the ruling BJP was reaching out to the SP for getting key bills passed in the upper house.
The SP chief gave sufficient hints of his support. At the end of his speech Yadav said his party would support the Modi government if it works towards making India "strong".
However, earlier during the speech he attacked the NDA government and Modi, saying “Your slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' (development of all) is a lie. I want to know whether your pitch for development was limited to a select people... Did you not support only the industrialists by the Ordinance? Was it meant to benefit the common man or farmer," Yadav said.