Crowd interrupts Mulayam Singh Yadav

Lucknow : Reporter

Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) got a huge boost as his elder brother and Samajwadi Party (SP) stalwart Mulayam Singh Yadav made an unannounced appearance at a PSPL rally. However, Mulayam’s address at the event was interrupted by the audience as he failed to mention his brother’s newly-formed party at the rally. Mulayam, while speaking at the Jan Aakrosh Rally on Sunday organised by PSPL, started talking about his own party instead of Shivpal’s. The audience interrupted Mulayam as he shied away from making a mention of PSPL in his speech, after which he shifted his speech in favour of the new party formed by his brother.

Addressing the rally, Mulayam appealed to the gathering to make the SP stronger, while hailing his party as one that “treats everybody as human and takes all persons along with it.” Furthermore, the SP leader said farmers and youth are the pillars of a strong nation, adding that the progress of both leads to progress of the country. “The country can be only strengthened by strengthening the farmers and the youth. Meanwhile, Shivpal, while addressing the gathering, gave a clarion call to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. Accusing the BJP of spreading communalism in the country, the PSPL chief said the Dharam Sabha, which was held in Ayodhya and other locations on November 25 to muster support for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, claimed that efforts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere.

Mulayam’s participation in the Jan Aakrosh Rally marks the first time he is sharing the stage with his younger brother since Shivpal floated his party. Shivpal had alleged that he felt sidelined in the SP after it was taken over by Akhilesh Yadav, and announced the launch of his party in October after a fallout with his nephew.