Expressing annoyance over Samajwadi Party joining hands with Bahujan Samaj Party, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav said that Akhilesh Yadav had “finished” the party by deciding to contest only 50 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
“By contesting just 40 of the total 80 seats in the state, Akhilesh has finished half the party. Delaying the announcement of candidates is further weakening the prospects of the party at the hustings,” Yadav Senior said while addressing party workers at SP state headquarters here in the presence of media persons on Thursday.
In fact, the Samajwadi Party will be contesting 37 seats while the BSP will field its candidates in 38 constituencies.
This is the first time that Mulayam Singh Yadav has come out openly against his son after the SP stitched an alliance with the BSP.
“The fight of the SP is with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party workers should pull up their socks to fight and win majority of the seats that the party is contesting,” Yadav Senior said while conceding that even as the SP was forging alliances, the BJP was far ahead in preparations and had already sent its observers to different constituencies.
Mulayam further said that the BJP had already selected its candidates while the SP was yet to finalise its candidates.
“Candidates who can win elections should be fielded. If you want to contest election, give me a letter that you are interested in contesting polls,” the SP patron said, adding that during his time, candidates were announced 14 months ahead of the polls and this gave them ample time to reach out to the voters.
Mulayam, who praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha and even wished that he had a second term, said, “It is unfortunate that I have been made the patron of the SP but have not been assigned any work. But I can certainly say that I have the power even to take action against the party president.”
Making a detailed summary of the SP-BSP alliance, Mulayam said that by contesting half the seats, the SP had already lost half the seats even before the polls and in the rest, the results would depend on the candidates and other factors.
“Under my leadership in the past, the SP won 39 Lok Sabha seats in UP and later won another three seats in the bypolls. But now, the situation is different as the present leadership has already surrendered half the seats,” he said.
The SP founder said that women were also turning up in less numbers in party meetings.
“Today, there are just nine women to listen to me in the meeting while earlier around 40 women used to come regularly. This shows how the party is functioning,” he said.
Yadav Senior also disclosed without taking names that some people wanted him not to speak today before the media.
“But I have never shied away from the media and have always spoken the truth. How can you cover your weakness from the media?” he asked.
Mulayam further said that in Madhya Pradesh, the SP had a strong base but now it was losing grounds there.
However, in a strong appeal to the party workers, the SP patron said, “We are already late but strong candidates should give me their application to contest polls so that their names can be discussed and they get ample time to go to the voters.”