Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has dispelled rumours that he is upset with his party’s alliance with Congress and said he will start campaigning the alliance in Uttar Pradesh from Tuesday.
“I am confident the alliance will win UP assembly polls,” he said on Monday.
“Akhilesh Yadav will be the next CM. There are no differences in the family, I will start campaigning from Tuesday,” Mulayam said speaking to reporters.
Mulayam had earlier said that he would start campaigning for his brother Shivpal Yadav on February 9, and then for son and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.
“No one is unhappy…he (Shivpal) has not spoken to me or anyone in the party. He may have said out of anger…now leave it, there will be no new party,” he asked.
The SP patriarch had on 29 January voiced displeasure over the alliance, and said he would not campaign for it.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have forged a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh contesting 298 and 105 seats respectively.
Ever since he was overthrown by Akhilesh, in a series of flip-flops, Mulayam has been making contradictory noises.
Earlier, he had asked his supporters to contest against Congress candidates. However, later he retreated and told reporters that Akhilesh was his son and that he had very little option but to canvass.
On the other hand Shivpal Yadav, after filing his nomination in Jaswantnagar last week, had announced he would form a new party after March 11 when election results will be announced.
However, opposition parties including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been alleging that the family fight in the Yadav family is a staged attempt to deflect voter’s mind from lawlessness and corruption in the poll-bound state.
