SP's cadre in a fix as Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav differ on NDA's presidential candidate

LUCKNOW: Who in the Samjwadi Party will decide its stand on the Presidential election? With the two top leaders -patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and national president Akhilesh Yadav -sending out contradictory signals, confusion prevails among the party cadre on the issue.

While Mulayam has been giving indications that he might go with the NDA's choice, his move to attend the dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh CM Aditya Nath Yogi in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only given credence to to the speculation that he has made up his mind to support Ram Nath Kovind. His son on the other hand has made it clear that his party would announce its stand only after attending the meeting of the opposition parties called on Thursday by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Mulayam's decision to join Yogi's dinner but to stay away from the iftaar organised just a day before by Akhilesh, has also raised concerns within the party's rank and file and Muslim supporters. For decades, Mulayam has been hailed by the community as its undisputed leader, but his refusal to attend the party's iftar has come as a setback to them. A senior SP leader however told TOI that the party has to go by what the president (Akhilesh) says.

JD(U)-BJD chasm widens as Lalu goes the other way

In a reminder of the increasing chasm in Bihar's ruling grand alliance, RJD president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said that his party would not toe the line of ally JD (U), which has decided to support NDA's presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind. "We will go with the decision of the opposition parties, which will meet in New Delhi on June 22," Lalu said, while refusing to comment on JD (U)'s decision.

The development is set to add to the bitterness between the JD(U) and RJD. Their alliance notwithstanding, functionaries of both parties have in the past exchanged barbs with the likes of RJD's Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, criticising JD(U) president and CM Nitish's decisions.