After excluding the name of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in the first list of its star campaigners, the Samajwadi Party in a damage control exercise, hastily revised the list and included the name of the party founder.
The list has been submitted to the Election Commission for approval.
Sources in SP however said it was a deliberate move by the party leadership as Mulayam Singh Yadav was unhappy with his son Akhilesh Yadav over denial of party ticket to younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was quick to exploit the faux pas by the Samajwadi Party. “Samajwadi Party president is following the legacy of the Mughal rulers and has marginalised his father and uncle and joined hands with his bitter enemy. A person who is not faithful to his father can never be loyal to the people and the electorate will give a befitting lesson to such power-hungry and opportunistic leaders,” Yogi Adityanath said in a tweet on Sunday.
In another tweet, Yogi Adityanath, without naming Mulayam Singh Yadav, said, “What an irony that the name of the person was deleted from the list of star campaigners by his son. This person made door to door campaign wearing torn and worn footwears and raised the party from scratch to an important players in Uttar Pradesh.”
After facing embarrassment, Samajwadi Party in their list of star campaigners included the name of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The earlier list of star campaigners was for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. The revised list is for the first and second phases. The list has the names of 40 leaders including party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan, Dimple Yadav and Jaya Bachchan among others, besides Ram Gopal Yadav himself. The list was released by senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.