I am sure Mulayam will campaign for us: Akhilesh

Seeking to downplay Mulayam Singh Yadav’s outbursts over the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he is ‘sure’ that his father will take part in campaigning and will be ‘most happy’ when the SP is voted back to power.

“I am sure Mulayam Singh Yadav will campaign for us. He (Mulayam) will be most happy if Samajwadi Party comes to power in the state,” the SP president said.

Akhilesh was addressing a series of public meetings in Etah, Jaithra, Patiyali and Kasganj.

Voicing displeasure over the alliance between the SP and the Congress, Mulayam on Sunday had said he would not campaign for it in the assembly polls.

"I am completely against the alliance. I will not campaign for it," Mulayam had said on a day his son and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi held their first joint press conference in Lucknow and held a road show displaying great bonhomie.

Mulayam, who had rejected the possibility of an alliance for the assembly polls before being deposed as party president by Akhilesh, had said, "Congress ruled the country for a long time and made it laggard. We always fought against Congress."

“The Samajwadi Party is capable of contesting elections alone. In the past, it fought alone and formed government with a majority. No occasion arose for effecting an alliance,” he had said.

Akhilesh alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party has ‘copied’ his party's poll manifesto and accused the Modi government of ‘harassing’ people by demonetisation.

On alliance with the Congress, he said, “Bicycle (SP’s election symbol) had been strengthened by the cooperation of hand (Congress poll symbol).”

He claimed that the BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’ has been taken from the SP manifesto and no one can compete with his party on the basis of works undertaken by its government.

"Where are the achche din (good days) and Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of people promised by the BJP ahead of 2014 assembly election," Akhilesh asked.

"People can see that we have done a lot of progress in every sphere in the last five years... We started Samajwadi ambulance service. The dial 100 for emergency police service was introduced to curb crimes and provide safety to the people,” he said.

Although though there were posters of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka along with Azam Khan and Ram Gopal Yadav on the stage, posters of Mulayam Singh Yadav were conspicuous by their absence.

On the demonetisation move of the Modi government, the Akhilesh accused the Centre of harassing the common people and sought to know whether corruption and black money have been eradicated.

"Poor people were harassed by forcing them to stand in long queues at banks, while the rich people did not face any problem at all," the SP leader alleged.

A day after launching full fledged campaign of SP-Congress alliance, Akhilesh rebuffed the disgruntled elements in his party saying real friends are known only in times of crisis.

"When it is darkness all around, you come to know who all are with you," Akhilesh said in an obvious reference to local MLA Ashish Yadav who has decided to contest as Independent candidate after denial of party ticket as well to as his father Ramesh Yadav, the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad.

“The party has given him a lot of respect... he has the biggest chair of the House of which I am a member,” Akhilesh, an MLC, said referring to Ramesh Yadav.

Both Ramesh Yadav and Ashish are considered to be Mulayam Singh and Shivpal Singh Yadav supporters and had openly criticised Ram Gopal Yadav.

Speaking from the dais shared by local SP and Congress leaders, Akhilesh attacked BJP and BSP and stressing that his party’s ‘bicycle’ will run fast with the ‘hand’ of the Congress.

Seeking another term and support for his party nominees, Akhilesh asked as to what was the way to ‘achche din’ as they have still eluded the countrymen after a passage of around three years of BJP government at the Centre.

Speaking about the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party president alleged that it could only set up elephants.

Several leaders from BJP and Congress also joined the party in the presence of the chief minister.