In a bid to regain lost ground, Mulayam calls on ministers

Keen to regain lost ground after the drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday met UP Ministers and asked them to ensure the party’s victory in bypolls to 12 assembly seats.

“The review of the elections was done. All of us have been asked to work to ensure victory on all the seats where bypolls will be held,” Cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan told reporters after attending the meeting.

The state will be witnessing bypolls to 12 seats as 11 BJP MLAs and one Apna Dal legislator have been elected to Lok Sabha.

On speculation that some ministers may be asked to quit after the party’s dismal performance in Lok Sabha polls, Khan took a jibe at the media saying, ‘the news of resignations came from you (media). You decide and they will resign’. He said that the party would continue to fight for the “truth”.

The ruling SP had won only five seats in Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh with Mulayam winning from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, daughter-in-law Dimple from Kannauj and nephews Akshay Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav from Firozabad and Badaun respectively.

After Lok Sabha polls, SP had dissolved all its state and district units. Only state president Akhilesh Yadav has been retained.