Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday showered praise on Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani and used his comments to lash out at his son Akhilesh Yadav's government in Uttar Pradesh.
"Advani sahab says UP is in very bad state and corruption is rampant. Now I have to assess the situation when a senior leader like Advani says such a thing. He never lies. He always speaks the truth, as I have said many times. I will go and meet him again," Yadav said.
Citing Advani's views, Yadav said that if the chief minister failed to control the law and order situation, he would be tagged as an incapable administrator.
"Akhilesh, the government is not run by flexibility, but by (taking) a tough stand," the SP supremo said in a speech on the occasion of the 103rd birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia.
Accusing ministers and officers of tarnishing the image of the Samajwadi Party government by indulging in sycophancy, he asked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to be a strict administrator.
"Ministers are indulging in leisure and officers in sycophancy to get their work done. That is bringing a bad (name) to the government, it won't be allowed," he said.
Describing police stations and tehsil offices as the biggest centres of corruption, he said that the CM should undertake a review of such places and initiate stern action against the district magistrates and police chiefs, wherever irregularities are detected.
Until and unless there is fear among the officers, the functioning of the government will not be proper, he said.
Yadav's praise for Advani comes days after SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav had said the former BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was ‘more cohesive’ and its prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's style of functioning was better.
"NDA's coalition was led by Vajpayee and he was a big personality. Other leaders in the coalition such as L K Advani are one of the biggest leaders of the country," Ram Gopal Yadav had said.
Taking ministers and party leaders to task, Yadav said that those who had worked to ensure the victory of the SP in the polls had been relegated to the background.
"I know the situation (the government is in). The CM should conduct a review and take stern action. It is the responsibility of the CM to implement the (party) manifesto," the SP chief added.
Attacking the Congress, he alleged that many more crimes had taken place in Delhi but they were not being discussed.
Targeting the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, which his party supports from outside, Yadav said, "This is a weak government. The country's borders are not secure".
The SP chief has been miffed with the Congress since Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma accused him of having links with terrorists and taking commission from the Congress for providing outside support. Yadav had demanded Verma's resignation, after which the minister had expressed regret.
At the same time, SP continues to keep the government on tenterhooks on its outside support by authorising Mulayam to "take any decision on any issue at an appropriate time in the interest of the party".
