Making Akhilesh CM was mistake: Mulayam
WAY AHEAD Blames alliance with Congress for SP’s poor show in Uttar Pradesh polls, feels efforts needed to strengthen the party
Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday blamed the alliance with the Congress for the ‘poor’ state of the party and said efforts should be made to strengthen the SP.
He also said it was a ‘mistake’ to make his son Akhilesh UP chief minister, adding, “Things would have been different if I had been the chief minister.”
Mulayam, who was here to unveil a statue of martyr Dharmendra Yadav in Junesa village in Karhal area, said though the Congress left no stone unturned to ‘ruin’ his life, his son Akhilesh Yadav forged an alliance with the party in the run-up to the assembly polls.
The veteran leader made no mention of the ‘secular morcha’ declared by his brother Shivpal Yadav and toed the line he had taken in an exclusive chat with HT earlier on Saturday. He admitted that anger was the reason Shivpal distanced himself from the party but exuded confidence that all issues would be sorted out to keep the Yadav family and SP united.
“The alliance with Congress is responsible for the present poor state of the party. I had advised Akhilesh not to go ahead with it but he did so. The SP is itself responsible for its defeat and not the people of the state”, he told reporters here.
Yadav said the leadership of SP would be in the hands of youth in future and added that he would again talk to Shivpal to sort out the issues.
Mulayam admitted that Shivpal was angry but stressed that the latter had worked hard for the party. “We all know who is the ‘Shakuni’ (a villain in Mahabharat),” he said in a veiled attack at Ram Gopal Yadav.
Targeting elements ‘within’ which were working against the party, the SP patriarch alleged that money was spent to ensure defeat of Shivpal in the recent assembly election but yet he won with a margin of 52,000 votes
The alliance with the Congress is responsible for the present poor state of the party. I had advised Akhilesh not to go ahead with it but he did it.
from Jaswant Nagar.
Talking about the sharp fall in the number of seats won by the SP, Mulayam said that the tally fell from 224 seats in 2012 to 47 in 2017.
“One cannot blame the voters. Those within the party were responsible. It could have fallen lower had I not campaigned,” he said, exhorting the workers to strengthen the party.
“SP introduced good schemes but officials were left free for five years and party leaders paid no heed, which made the masses feel neglected,” he said.
Quoting PM Narendra Modi again, he said Akhilesh never bothered to reply to the PM’s allegation that one who could not be loyal to his father could be loyal to none.
“Akhilesh should have denied this even if he was not convinced but I would have felt better,” Mulayam said.