Janata Parivar had to unite due to BJP’s high handedness: Mulayam Singh

Mulayam arrived four hours late at the function held at the SP office. Several state ministers, a large number of workers and MLAs were waiting. This was Mulayam’s first visit to Lucknow after the unification of Janata Parivar.

“The leaders have given me the authority to constitute the new party’s committee. I will soon set it up after seeking the opinion of every leader from the constituent parties. I will take their advice and honour it as they have shown faith in me,” Mulayam said.

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The SP chief, who tried his best to cheer up the workers, did not seem to impress them much. There was no response from workers when Mulayam mentioned Janata Parivar. “See, we already have governments in two states and will win two more states — Karnataka and Haryana — where our constituents are strong. In UP, SP is strong and has a direct fight with BJP. It is a challenge for us,” he said.

During his 45-minute speech, Mulayam targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi without taking his name. “Chandra Shekhar was a very simple leader and wore dhoti-kurta even after becoming PM. These days don’t know what sort of clothes people wear after becoming PM,” he said.

Claiming that Modi has failed to develop his constituency, Mulayam said: “He gave only Rs 200 crore to Varanasi while I gave Rs 2,000 crore. I call up the district magistrate (of his constituency Azamgarh) everyday to enquire about development works.”

Mulayam, also taking a dig at Modi’s “Clean India” campaign, said it was actually he (Mulayam) who had started constructing toilets in rural areas in 1989. “Some toilets are left and I will ask Akhilesh to complete them,” he said.

Cautioning state ministers, Mulayam said: “See, only 11 months are left before the state elections… No one will listen to you. Some work has been done but it should be publicised. I highlight it even in the Parliament. I have said the government should do one miraculous work immediately after taking oath and another after six months.”

The function saw most Kshatriya ministers from the state on statge. Ministers like Yogesh Pratap Singh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh Raja Bhaiyya, Arvind Singh Gope, Raja Aridaman Singh and several Kshatriya legislators — including Chandra Shekhar’s MP son Neeraj Shekhar — were present to send out the message that the community was behind SP. Mulayam also announced that he will pursue the demand of installing Chandrashekhar’s statue at GPO Park.