HIS REMARK EMBARRASSES OPPOSITION, ENTHUSES BJP

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his wish that Modi return to power in 2019 Lok Sabha polls appears to have left the Opposition red-faced.

It also provided the BJP a handle to target the alliance and say even ‘the opposition was now conceding Modi’s ability to turn things around.’

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was quoted by ANI as saying he was very sad to hear what Yadav had said. “Mulayam has not made the statement on his own, he has been made to do it; the words have been put in his mouth,” Khan claimed.

Samajwadi Party spokesman Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, “Netaji is a more of a statesman. And please don’t forget that he had made a similar wish for the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.”

“I have no clue, haven’t heard him (Mulayam),” was what SP veteran Rajendra Chaudhary said.

The news agency ANI quoted chief minister Yogi

MULAYAM REMARK ALSO PROVIDED THE BJP A HANDLE TO TARGET THE ALLIANCE

Adityanath as saying: “What Mulayam Singh Yadav said in Parliament is true. I believe, like Mulayam, his political heir will also accept this truth.”

Other BJP leaders concede Mulayam’s statement couldn’t have been better timed. For it came in the middle of Congress efforts to shore up its political fortunes in the crucial Hindi heartland state and barely a day after Mulayam’s son and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had galvanised his party and the opposition against the BJP over the Yogi government barring his visit to Prayagraj.

UP minister Sidharth Nath Singh said, “It’s like Goddess Saraswati speaking through Mulayam Singhji. It’s due to Akhileshji that his father Mulayam Singh ji’s wishes couldn’t be fulfilled. It’s because of him that the Yadav family got divided.”

Tactically, the BJP, while targeting Akhilesh, has mostly been soft on Mulayam.