Will SP patriarch attend Akhilesh’s ‘iftar’ party?

A guessing game is on in the Samajwadi Party (SP) if the party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav will attend the ‘iftar’ party being hosted by his son and SP national president Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday.

Iftar, a feast during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, has traditionally been a gala event for the SP – be it in or out of power. Mulayam has never skipped an ‘iftar’ ever since he founded the party in 1992.

Whatever be the move of the SP patriarch, political conjectures will be drawn within and outside the party in both the cases. But this time Mulayam is no longer the party president and he is also not a host or a co-host. ‘Iftar’ will be held at the party state headquarters at Vikramaditya Marg on Monday evening.

“We would like him to attend the ‘iftar’. He is the chief patron of the party and our leader but there is no certainty,” said a senior party leader who was once close to Mulayam, and joined Akhilesh camp after he took over the national president of the party. The feud in the Yadav family, if it does not end soon, will complete a year next month.

We would like him to attend the ‘iftar’. He is the chief patron of the party and our leader but there is no certainty A SENIOR PARTY LEADER