I am sure Mulayam will campaign for us: Akhilesh Yadav

Etah: Seeking to downplay Mulayam Singh Yadav’s outbursts over the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress, Akhilesh Yadav said he is “sure” that his father will take part in campaigning and will be “most happy” when SP is voted back to power.

“I am sure Mulayam Singh Yadav will campaign for us. He (Mulayam) will be most happy if Samajwadi Party comes to power in the state,” the SP president said.

Akhilesh was addressing a series of public meetings in Etah, Jaithra, Patiyali and Kasganj.

Voicing displeasure over the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday had said he would not campaign for it in the assembly polls.

“I am completely against the alliance. I will not campaign for it,” Mulayam had said on a day his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi held their first joint press conference in Lucknow and held a road show displaying great bonhomie.

Mulayam, who had rejected the possibility of an alliance for the Assembly polls before being deposed as party president by Akhilesh, had said, “Congress ruled the country for a long time and made it laggard. We always fought against Congress.”

“Samajwadi Party is capable of contesting elections alone. In the past, it fought alone and formed government with a majority. No occasion arose for effecting an alliance,” he had said.

Akhilesh alleged that BJP has “copied” his party’s poll manifesto and accused the Modi government of “harassing” people by demonetisation.

On alliance with Congress, he said, “Bicycle (SP’s election symbol) had been strengthened by the cooperation of hand (Congress poll symbol).”

He claimed that BJP’s “sankalp patra” has been taken from the SP manifesto and no one can compete with his party on the basis of works undertaken by its government.

“Where are the achchey din (good days) and Rs. 15 lakh in the bank account of people promised by BJP ahead of 2014 Assembly election,” Akhilesh asked.

“People can see that we have done a lot of progress in every sphere in the last five years… We started Samajwadi ambulance service. The dial 100 for emergency police service was introduced to curb crimes and provide safety to the people,” he said.

Although though there were posters of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka along with Azam Khan and Ram Gopal Yadav on the stage, posters of Mulayam Singh Yadav were conspicuous by their absence.