Mulayam looks beyond, Amar keeps complaining

NEW DELHI: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh seemed geared up for a knock-down-drag-out fight. While Mr Yadav appeared to be in a hurry to erase Mr Amar Singh from his party’s collective memory — “we look ahead and not think about the past” — the former party general secretary hit back saying that he would prefer to be a “samajwadi” and not a “Mulayam-wadi”.

Mr Singh, who gave enough hints about his plans to take the fight against Mr Yadav to Uttar Pradesh, has already announced his participation in a Kshatriya Jagran Yatra. The yatra, organised by Mr Singh’s Thakur kinsmen will be kicked off from Banaras on February 20 and culminate in Delhi sometime in March.

The attempt of Mr Singh at the interaction with the media on his arrival in the Capital was to paint the SP as not just a Yadav outfit but a one-family organisation. Referring to his resignation, Mr Singh said it has been accepted by Mr Yadav and his family members — Ram Gopal Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh Singh and Dharmendra Yadav. “They constitute the party. I am freed of the bonds of this family,” Mr Singh said.

At the press conference, he reiterated that the decision to coopt the hero of Ayodhya, Kalyan Singh, was the decision of Mr Yadav and not his. “When the SP national convention was held, I was away in Singapore. The whole city was awash with photos of Mr Yadav and Kalyan Singh,” he said. Mr Singh also pointed out that Mr Yadav made Kalyan Singh’s son Rajbir a general secretary of the SP.

Mr Singh said the wings of many important Muslim leaders were clipped to accommodate the political interest of Mr Yadav’s family members. “Salim Sherwani was denied a ticket in Kannauj to make way for Mr Yadav’s son Akhilesh. In Sambhal, Shafi-ur-Rehman Burq was not allowed to contest because Mr Yadav wanted a favourite to be accommodated. Similar was the case in Meerut,” Mr Singh said, clearly running down Mr Mulayam Singh’s pro-Muslim credentials.
Asked whether he was hinting at the party being a family affair, he said, “I am not saying, people say this.” In apparent testing of waters, Mr Amar Singh said he would meet “true” socialists like Raghu Thakur, a Madhya Pradesh leader, and participate in various programmes in Rampur, Mathura and Ghazipur.

Mr Amar Singh was livid with Mr Mulayam Singh’s supporters for questioning the candidature from Rampur of actor Jaya Prada. Then late last year, Mr Amar Singh was blamed by Akhilesh Yadav for his wife’s defeat in a by-election for the Ferozabad seat. In turn, Mr Amar Singh had accused Mr Yadav and his family of being over-confident.

Mr Singh is also learnt to be in touch with leaders of smaller parties with influence among MBCs such as Rajbhars and Nonias. Besides, he has already touched base with disgruntled Samajwadi leaders like Raghu Thakur.