Mulayam addresses first rally, seeks votes for Shivpal, no mention of SP-Congress alliance

Etawah (UP): After staying away from campaigning till now, SP patriarch Mualyam Singh Yadav today addressed his first rally where he sought votes for brother Shivpal, saying the election is important for both of them.

Mulayam, who was removed as party president with his son Akhilesh Yadav taking over the reins just before the polls following a bitter turf battle with Shivpal, also made no mention of the SP-Congress alliance which he had publicly opposed.

In his 30-minute speech in Takha block of Jaswantnagar which he represented before he handed it over to his brother, the SP leader stressed that these elections were important, especially for him and Shivpal.

Significantly, Mulayam also did not speak about any other political party and only concentrated on seeking votes for Shivpal by stating the works done by SP.

"Youth are the real strength of SP and maximum youths are with SP and so our party never ages...," Mulayam said, adding though unemployment was a national problem, maximum jobs have been given in UP and those who had not got jobs were given allowance.

"Earlier people used to mock our manifesto but we fulfilled all our promises...We made laws to see that farmers' land was not auctioned because of debt and they will not have to pay lagaan (revenue)," he said.

"The US is making laws on the lines of laws that we have made for farmers...We have found place in newspapers there," he said.

This was Mulayam's first election rally after flip-flops on whether he would campaign for Samajwadi Party post Akhilesh Yadav taking over as party president.

Jaswant Nagar constituency will go to polls in phase-3 on February 19 and Mulayam's rally coincided with the first phase of polling in the state today.

UP will have a seven-phase polling ending March 8.