Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav with Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Ahmad Bukhari in Lucknow. PTI
Mulayam’s Muslim love was on display at a joint press conference with Imam Ahmad Bukhari.
Prominent clerics led by the Jama Masjid Imam pledged their support to the Samajwadi Party (SP) here on Saturday.
Bukhari, who batted for the BJP in the last parliamentary elections,
has now extended support to the SP, after it nominated his son-in-law Umar Ali Khan from Behat (Saharanpur).
While Yadav said “ I have so far cleared all tests for Muslims”, Bhukhari called upon the community to close the “Kalyan Singh chapter”. Since Yadav had publically apologised for his poll pact with former BJP CM Kalyan Singh in 2009, it was no longer a factor, Bukhari told journalists.
The SP chief largely restricted himself to appreciating the clerics’ support for the party, but fire-spitting Bukhari went hammer and tongs at the Congress and Mayawati’s BSP government.
Meanwhile, the Congress and BJP hit out at “opportunist” Bukhari. BJP’s CM hopeful Uma Bharti said Muslims were well aware of Bukhari's opportunism and his appeal to them to vote for the SP will make no difference to the community.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said, “Bukhari is a communal person, who at one time supported Osama Bin Laden.”