Uttar Pradesh polls: Mulayam Singh Yadav loyalists regrouping

Lucknow: Samajwadi leaders owing allegiance to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and shunned by Mr Akhilesh Yadav, have started regrouping under the banner of ‘Mulayam ke Log’ in various districts across Uttar Pradesh.

Since majority of the party offices in the districts have been taken over by the Akhilesh faction, Mulayam loyalists have started opening separate offices under the banner of ‘Mulayam ke Log’ and plan to conduct their political activities from here.

The parallel party office in Etawah was inaugurated by Mr Shivpal Yadav on Sunday in Chaugurji area and is being run by Sunil Yadav. The house for the office has been provided by a local businessman.

Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a three-term SP MLA who resigned two days ago after he was denied ticket by Mr Akhilesh Yadav, said, “We are followers of Mulayam Singh Yadav and cannot tolerate the humiliation that he has been made to suffer in recent weeks. This will be our meeting point and all those who believe in Netaji (Mulayam) will work together, following his ideology.”

The leaders, however, will be ‘working overtime’ to ensure the success of Mr Shivpal Yadav from Jaswantnagar Assembly seat.

Amit Jani and Anil Varma, both SP leaders known to be Shivpal loyalists, have also set up a Shivpal Yadav Youth Brigade and Shivpal Yuvjan Sabha, ostensibly to counter the youth power of Mr Akhilesh.

“We have already set up our district unit and will start working for those who have been wrongly denied tickets by the SP. We are not campaigning for Samajwadi Party but for our brothers who are contesting on tickets of different parties,” said Amit Jani.

“We will be campaign for Mulayam ke Log, irrespective of the fact whether they are contesting as an independent or any other party,” a group member said.