March 28, 2024 15:30 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Delhi High Court rejects PIL seeking removal of Arvind Kejriwal as CM | MHA extends AFSPA in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh for 6 months | Encourage fair, transparent and legal process: US comments again on Kejriwal's arrest | India and China discuss border disengagement: EAM | Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discusses defence, trade while interacting with Malaysian leaders
Speculation over whether Mulayam will share stage with Mayawati in Mainpuri

Speculation over whether Mulayam will share stage with Mayawati in Mainpuri

India Blooms News Service | @indiablooms | 18 Apr 2019, 07:19 am

Mainpuri, Apr 18 (UNI): Whether Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav will share the stage with BSP president Mayawati on Friday is not confirmed yet, but if he does, it will create a history of sorts.

Sharing the stage with the BSP president would mean the two leaders have buried their differences since the June 5, 1995 incident where SP cadres made an attempt on Mayawati's life at a Lucknow guest house.

Though there are reports that Mulayam Singh Yadav was adamant on not joining the joint rally as he is opposed to the SP's alliance with BSP. But if he succumbs to the pressure of his son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, it would be a history of sorts and send a message of Opposition unity against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP.

Forgetting the decades-long rivalry, Mayawati, along with Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders of both the parties and RLD will address a joint rally at Christian College ground on Friday at 1pm.

But confusion still persists whether Mulayam Singh Yadav will attend the rally or not. Recently a letter of appeal issued by the SP state president Naresh Uttam, asked the party supporters to join the rally in large number of a joint rally to be addressed by Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and RLD president Ajit Singh. The name of Mulayam Singh Yadav was missing from the list of leaders slated to address the joint rally.

However, Akhilesh Yadav told reporters more than once that his father would attend the Mainpuri rally.

Mulayam, who is against the SP's alliance with the BSP, has made his views on the issue public on more than once occasion.

The SP patriarch refused to address a public meeting on April 1 after filing his nomination papers and have so far not campaigned even for a day so far. The polling in Mainpuri seat is slated on April 23 in the third phase where the campaigning will end on April 21.

Mayawati sharing the stage with Mulayam Singh could be seen as a game changer to convert caste arithmetic into votes and enthuse party workers to work collectively with co-ordination.

In 1993, the SP-BSP had formed an alliance to stop the BJP's growing influence after the Ram temple movement gained momentum. Then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP founder Kanshi Ram had joined hands. Both the leaders were able to outflank the BJP.

The alliance, however, did not last and ended in 1995 after the infamous Meera Bai Marg guest house incident wherein SP workers attacked Mayawati.

Akhilesh, Mayawati and RLD president Ajit Singh launched their the joint election campaign on April 7 by addressing a rally in Deoband in Western UP.

After Deoband, back to back joint rallies have been planned for Akhilesh and Mayawati in Meerut, Bijnore, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Aligarh, Agra, Amroha, Mainpuri and other important constituencies.

However, due to the EC's ban on Mayawati for 48 hours, the BSP president could not attend the joint rally of the alliance in Agra on Tuesday.

The BJP has strongly criticised Mayawati's decision to seek vote for Mulayam.

"Mayawati, before going to Mainpuri, should address the Dalits across the country and inform them about the need to campaign in favour of Mulayam, the leader which she has been criticising for a very long time," said Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Chandramohan here on Thursday.

Image: UNI

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
PM Modi in Bhutan 22 Mar 2024, 06:53 pm
PM Modi in Tamil Nadu 28 Feb 2024, 07:07 pm