Maya withdraws 24-year-old guesthouse case against Mulayam

Five months after breaking her party’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday extended the olive branch to

Five months after breaking her party’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday extended the olive branch to the SP by withdrawing a case lodged against the party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in the infamous guesthouse episode of June 2, 1995.

HT Image

BSP national general secretary SC Mishra confirmed that his party chief had withdrawn the case lodged against the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mishra, however, did not give details of the matter.

Another BSP leader, who did not wish to be named, said after the SP-BSP stitched a pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha election on January 12, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav had urged Mayawati to withdraw the case lodged against his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in the guesthouse episode. During the election campaign, Mayawati shared the dais with Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mainpuri and called upon the party workers to forget the guesthouse episode, the BSP leader said.

Mayawati had assured Akhilesh that she will fulfill his request. After the defeat in the Lok Sabha election, she annulled the alliance but fulfilled the promise made to Akhilesh, the BSP leader said.

Mayawati had blamed Akhilesh Yadav for the alliance’s defeat in the Lok Sabha election. On June 23, she announced end of the alliance with the SP. She also said the BSP will contest the assembly election on its own strength. Akhilesh Yadav had also launched a counter attack on the BSP, blaming Mayawati for the defeat. He said though the SP transferred its vote, BSP failed to do the same. The BSP failed to open its account in the recently concluded UP assembly by-polls for 11 seats.

Recalling the guesthouse incident, a senior BSP leader said after demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 a saffron wave swept the state. To counter the BJP, the then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the then BSP chief Kanshi Ram formed an alliance to contest the 1993 assembly election. The BSP-SP alliance won 176 seats and formed a government with Congress support. The BJP bagged 176 seats but failed to reach the majority mark.

After the formation of the BSP-SP government, differences started cropping among the alliance partners in less than two years. BJP leaders met Mayawati and offered her the CM’s post if the BSP joined hands with their party. On June 2, 1995, Mayawati called a meeting of her party MLAs at the Meerabai guesthouse in Lucknow. Samajwadi Party leaders and workers too reached the guesthouse and allegedly attacked it.

Mayawati and some BSP MLAs locked themselves in a room of the guest house. Later, she was rescued by BJP leaders. In a case registered at the local police station, Mayawati alleged that Mulayam Singh Yadav and other SP leaders had wanted to kill her.

Later, the governor sacked Mulayam Singh Yadav and invited Mayawati to form the government.

Samajwadi Party state president Naresh Uttam Patel, who was in Fatehpur, said over the phone that he was not aware of any such development about withdrawal of the case and thus was not in a position to comment on it.

Samajwadi Party’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said: “I am not aware of it yet. Will find out about it tomorrow and say anything after that.”.

Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief Shivpal Yadav (the younger brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav), said in Prayagraj: “I have no idea.”

However, a senior Samajwadi Party leader said during the Lok Sabha polls, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had discussed taking such a course of action in the 24-year-old case.