Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar ask Mulayam Singh to douse fire in SP

PATNA: Expressing concern over the ongoing feud in the ruling family of Uttar Pradesh, JD(U) president Nitish Kumar and RJD boss Lalu Prasad on Monday urged Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to take necessary steps to douse the fire in the party at the earliest.
Reacting over the deepening crisis in the SP, Nitish said, “Mulayam is a leading statesman. Whatsoever dispute is there, he should sort it out.” However, he declined to make any further comment and said, “It is an internal matter of Samajwadi Party and it will not be proper to comment on internal matter of any party.”
To a question, Bihar CM termed his UP counterpart Akhilesh Yadav as a “young and sharp leader” and also reiterated his appeal to Akhilesh to “take a risk” and enforce liquor ban.“My appeal to Akhilesh in no way was about the internal crisis in Samajwadi Party,” Nitish said.
While addressing the JD(U) national council meet at Rajgir on October 17, Nitish had asked Akhilesh to come out of the "family shadow" and win the UP state assembly elections.
Terming the SP crisis as its “domestic issue”, RJD boss Lalu appealed his ‘samadhi’ Mulayam Singh Yadav to take necessary corrective measures to end the ongoing “tu-tu, mai-mai” (bickerings) within his organization. “The crisis in Samajwadi Party has developed because of ‘trust deficit’ among the leaders. We appeal Mulayam ji to end this ‘jhagra-jhamela’ (squabbling) at the earliest as assembly election was approaching,” Lalu told TOI.
Lalu, who’s younger daughter Raj Lakshmi is married to Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, the grandnephew of Mulayam, also said crores of people have reposed their faith and trust in the SP. “I urged Mulayam ji to end the crisis keeping in mind the trust of crores of people on his party,” the RJD boss said.
To a question, Lalu said if required, he would visit Lucknow to meet Mulayam ji. “But, it is their domestic matter and let them sort out themselves,” he said.