Lucknow, November 22
A 52-year-old woman was killed in a stampede during a free blanket distribution event organised by local Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav to mark party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s 75th birthday at Badaun today. Several people suffered injuries in the incident. A large number of people had assembled to collect blankets during the multi-city celebrations of the party patriarch at Madanlal Inter-College in Bisuali. The injured were taken to the community health centre where they were being treated, said Assistant Superintendent of Police BB Singh.

On April 12, 2004, 21 women were killed in a similar stampede in Lucknow. They had gathered at a free sari distribution function to mark the birthday of former Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon.

Rampur, the constituency of senior minister Mohd Azam Khan, was the main venue for Mulayam’s two-day celebrations.

At the midnight, the “dhartiputra” (son of the soil) cut a 75-foot-long 500 kg cake amidst fireworks and a cultural programme on Jauhar University campus.

Yesterday, the SP chief along with a select few had arrived on the campus on a Victorian buggy. A cultural programme saw performances by Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans, Sabri brothers as