A bitter feud in the family of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has worried the family of lalu Prasad. The two Yadav chieftains are not only related, the RJD supremo has pledged to campaign for the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. Both lalu and his wife Rabri Devi have advised their ‘samdhi’ to immediately sort out family differences before it is too late.
lalu and Rabri’s youngest daughter Raj lakshmi is married to Mulayam’s grandnephew Taj Pratap Singh Yadav, an MP, and the wedding was solemnized in February last year. Since then the two prominent Yadav families have come closer after burying old rivalries.
lalu is in constant touch with Mulayam and advising him what steps he should take to remove the ill-feelings with UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and other relatives. Also, the RJD chief also advised Akhilesh not to be misled by vested interest and follow the instructions of his father who spent his entire life in making a formidable force in Uttar Pradesh by taking the party to new heights.
“All should understand that they have to combat the communal forces in the coming election. They will take undue advantage of this situation. Netaji (Mulayam) should take initiative in sorting out differences before it is too late,” said lalu.
Former CM Rabri Devi said she was not in a position to give any advise because it was an internal matter of the family and all members of the family should sit together and solve the issues amicably. “We are related to the family and our “mehman” (son-in-law) is there. We want the family happily united,” she added.
If lalu is feeling uneasy over the events, his ally JD(U) is pleased over the infighting. The JD(U) leaders are keeping silence over the developments but privately they admit that this feud would only weaken the ruling party. The JD(U) is struggling to widen its base in UP and trying to bring together smaller parties on one platform to fight the BJP and SP while RJD boss has declared he would campaign for the SP.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who already has held eight meetings in UP and more meetings are in pipeline, had been accusing Mulayam of frustrating the move of uniting the six parties of erstwhile Sajawadi Pariwar and fielding candidates in Bihar assembly election. At the Rajgir conclave last week he said whatever was happening in UP and Mulayam family was because of the curse Bihar inflicted on him for his anti-unification moves.