Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday made an emotional appeal to voters while campaigning for his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav who is contesting  from lucknw Cantonment Assembly segment which gies to poll on February 19. Mulayam addressed the meeting near Carriage and Wagin workshop in Alambagh area of the state capital. 

“Its a question of my prestige. Please ensure the victory of my daughter-in-law. When people supported the party, I made Akhilesh Yadav the Chief Minister of UP,’’ said Mulayam.  

In his hour-long meeting, the SP patrairch uttered the name of Akhilesh Yadav only once.

In an apparent appeal to Muslim voters of lucknow Cant segment, Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “In 1990, I had assured Muslims that my government would protect the Babri mosque whether my government survived or was toppled and I protected the mosque. For that, I was compelled to order police firing on Kar sewaks to protect the mosque.’’

“Whenever the community faced any trouble, the SP government helped them. Whether Samajwadi Party forms the government or not in thei election, the problems of Muslims will be addressed on a priority,’’ said Mulayam. 

Apparently expressing his frustration over recent events through which he was stripped of the post of national SP president, Mulayam said, “Samajwadi Party won the mandate of the people in 2012 Assembly polls on my name. Yet, I proposed the name of Akhilesh for the office of Chief Minister. The rest of the story is known to you.’’

Refusing to elaborate, he reiterated that the ownership (khasra) of the party was still with him while others who were running the party just had the khatauni (tenancey rights).

The SP patriarch stressed that the SP never discriminated among the people on any ground and never made any false promises to them. “I announce that all promises made would be fulfilled at any cost. Even if the Samajwadi Party is unable to form a government, the promises made will be fulfilled,” he said.

This was the third meeting to be addressed by Mulayam Singh   for the seven-phase Assembly polls in UP. Earlier, Mulayam had addressed two poll meetings in Jaswant Nagar segment of Etawah where his younger brother Shivpal Yadav is seeking election for the fifth term from the same seat.

Criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling any of promises made during the 2014 lok Sabha polls, Mulayam said with a smile, “If you can’t deposit Rs 15 lakhs in the bank accounts of the poor, you should have at least deposited  Rs 2 lakh to fulfil part of the promise.”