‘Good fight, congrats’, says Mulayam in rare praise of son Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Sunday, praised Akhilesh Yadav’s way of contesting the UP assembly elections. “Akhilesh, tum bahut achcha ladey. Bahut badhai (Akhilesh you fought well, congratulations),” he said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday praised party chief Akhilesh Yadav on the way he contested the UP assembly elections.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav giving SP’s newly elected Saharanpur Rural MLA Ashu Malik his victory certificate at the party office, in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. (Sourced)

Mulayam, during his first visit to the SP headquarters in Lucknow since the poll results came, said: “Akhilesh, tum bahut achcha ladey. Bahut badhai (Akhilesh you fought well, congratulations).”

Mulayam also asked Akhilesh to prepare for further elections with “nai urja (renewed energy)”.

This was the first time, since his son Akhilesh took over the party’s reins from him, that Mulayam praised him over elections. Before this -- both in 2017 assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha elections -- Mulayam had openly criticised Akhilesh.

In 2017, when Akhilesh went into the UP assembly elections amid the Yadav family feud, Mulayam was more inclined towards Shivpal Yadav, the then estranged uncle of Akhilesh.

Mulayam had openly criticised Akhilesh for tying up with Congress and had warned him that the outcome won’t be good.

In 2019, when Akhilesh had tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its chief Mayawati, then also Mulayam had criticised him for the move.

However, Mulayam had jointly addressed a rally with Mayawati in Mainpuri for his Lok Sabha contest on the seat. Mulayam had won the seat, but the SP ended up with only five seats while Mayawati’s BSP won 11 Lok Sabha seats under the SP-BSP alliance.

Soon after the 2019 results, Mayawati also snapped ties with the SP, blaming Akhilesh and his party for the alliance’s poll debacle.

Akhilesh took over as SP chief in January 2017. Since then the SP has lost all elections. In 2017, the SP won only 47 assembly constituencies, in 2019 it won only five Lok Sabha seats, and now the SP and allies won 125 seats and could not prevent the BJP’s return to power. However, this time with the 111 seats, the SP has emerged as a strong opposition.