Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday made clear that he is upset with the alliance forged by his son and party president Akhilesh Singh Yadav with the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed unhappiness over the Uttar Pradesh pact ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, questioning why Akhilesh Yadav gave “half” the seats to Mayawati’s party.
The remarks come days after SP patriarch created a stir in Parliament, saying he wished that Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power.
Addressing party workers at the SP headquarters in Lucknow, he urged them to approach him if they sought the ticket to contest the parliamentary polls and suggested that he could change any decision taken by Akhilesh Singh Yadav.
Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the SP and the BSP will contest 38 seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, in the list released on Thursday, the SP will fight only 37 seats and the BSP 38.
Now, tell me what the basis for giving away half the seats is. Now we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger,” Mulayam said.
“We are strong; our men are weakening the party. What a strong party we had made, and I became the CM and the defence minister as well,” he said, suggesting that the SP had seen better days under him.
