Differences within the Samajwadi Party's first family are growing with each passing day with uncle Shivpal Yadav and nephew Akhilesh Yadav starting to vent their displeasure at pub-lic functions too.
The strain was clearly visible at a function organised to observe the 50th death anniversary of Socialist leader Ram Manohar lohia at lohia Park where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and State SP chief Shivpal Singh Yadav did not have eye contact, leave alone exchange pleasantries.
The Chief Minister first went to lohia Trust on Vikramaditya Marg and garlanded the statue of the Socialist icon and thereafter, he rushed to lohia Park to pay his tribute to Dr lohia.
At lohia Park, the CM paid floral tributes to the leader, even as Shivpal Yadav waited there for SP president and elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav. After paying his tributes, Akhilesh Yadav did not wait and left the place without waiting for his father.
later, Mulayam Singh Yadav reached the venue and paid floral tributes to the great Socialist leader. In his brief speech, Yadav expressed annoyance over the lack of communication between party workers and people. "You are not going to the people and insyead only trying to appease senior leaders in lucknow," Mulayam admonished.
Senior UP ministers like Om Prakash Singh, Ahmed Hasan and other senior leaders were present at the function.. "These workers only raise slogans and they just want election tickets even as no one knows them in their constituencies," Mulayam said.
Narrating his relationship with Dr lohia, Mulayam said he was a great philosopher and he met him on August 23,1967.
"Now a days, workers work hard to earn money but they do not follow the ideology. The workers do not hear speeches of great leaders, nor they read about leaders. We have made a lohia Trust where there are several thousands books on the lives of several great leaders. But unfortunately, no worker is interested in going there," he lamented.
Mulayam asked if anyone knows about the speeches of Dr lohia and claimed that he still remembers the words of all important speeches of the Socialist leader.
On the occasion, the party released a CD of 50 important speeches of Dr lohia.