New Delhi: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, in a jaw-dropping departure from the opposition chorus and his own party line, said he “prayed” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return to power after the next general election to Lok Sabha.
During his speeches to mark the last sitting of the current Lok Sabha here on Wednesday before the national election, Mulayam said, “I want to congratulate the PM that he tried to move ahead taking everyone along. I hope all members to win and return, and you (PM Modi) become prime minister again,” Mulayam Singh said.
Mulayam Singh’s views in the Lok Sabha sent the house into guffaws.
While Mulayam was delivering his farewell speech, the camera panned to his immediate neighbor, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who was looking surprised and bewildered, and to PM Modi, chuckling and thumping his desk. The prime minister also was seen reciprocating with folded hands.
PM Modi later used Mulayam Singh’s comment during his own speech: “There is much to do. And Mulayam Singhji has given his blessings. I am very grateful to him.”
His supporters swore it was all in humour, but the comment still raised eyebrows.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, asked to react, said he “disagreed”, but added “Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji has a role in politics and I respect his opinion”.
However, the comment may not please Mulaayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav, one of the main players in efforts to forge a grand opposition coalition to take on PM Modi and the BJP in the national election.
The SP patriarch comment came at a time when Akhilesh Yadav had forged an alliance with bitter rival Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, with the intention of putting up a stronger fight against the BJP, which swept the state in the 2014 national election.
What Mulayam Singh said on the floor of the House on Wednesday was indicative of the fact that he remained silent through process of much-talked about SP_BSP alliance. Party insiders claimed that Mulayam was against an alliance with Mayawati’s BSP.
It may be mentioned here that he was also against an alliance between the SP and the Congress during the last Assembly election in which the SP was virtually wiped out.
Also, the Yadav father and son have not been on the best of terms over the past two years, during which Akhilesh, 45, staged a coup of sort and took over control of the party founded by Mulayam.
However, despite the strain, Mulayam Singh chose to remain by his son’s side as his younger brother Shivpal Yadav broke away and set up a rebel outfit.