Lucknow: After exactly a year, Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav shared public space with his son and Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday.
The father-son came together at a function to mark the 50th death anniversary of socialist ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Mr Akhilesh Yadav dutifully touched his father’s feet in a gesture designed to send out “all is well” signals.
As the father and son chatted on stage during the function, Mr Shivpal Yadav was conspicuous by his absence. It was the very public spat between Mr Akhilesh Yadav and Mr Shivpal Yadav in the past one year that had caused an almost vertical split in the party with Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav throwing his weight behind his brother.
Mr Shivpal Yadav, meanwhile, offered tributes to Dr Lohia at the Lohia Trust office, of which he is now the secretary.
Later, addressing mediapersons at the SP headquarters, Akhilesh Yadav said that the “projects initiated by him are now being inaugurated by the BJP by removing his plaques”.
On Mulayam, he said, “If a father glosses over his son’s mistakes, he beco-mes misguided. There is fight of ideologies in every family...”
The former CM, however, did not elaborate. Asking party workers to gear up for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the SP chief said, “We have nothing to lose now. We will only gain. The people of the state are waiting for an opportunity to bring the SP back.”
“We have to prepare for 2022 Assembly elections too. This government is not doing any development and people have understood that,” he said.
The SP chief also attacked the Centre for implementing the GST “without any preparations”, causing hardship to the trader community.
