Mulayam Singh Yadav not to campaign for UP bypolls

Lucknow: The now on-now off war in the Samajwadi clan is far from over as Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has now refused to campaign for his party in the upcoming byelections to two Lok Sabha seats in the state.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav, however, will be campaigning for his candidates after Holi.

SP spokesman Rajen-dra Chaudhary said, “Senior party leaders have already started campaigning in both constituencies and our national president will address public meetings in the next few days. He will address two meetings each in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Gorakhpur and Phulpur.”

Mr Chaudhary, however, said he had no information whatsoever if Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav would campaign or not.

Meanwhile, a close aide of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said that he had no plans of campaigning for the byelections. “He will celebrate Holi in his village Sefai and then leave for Delhi on the weekend,” the aide said.

It is noteworthy that in the 2017 Assembly elections, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had refused to campaign after being ousted from the party president’s post by son Akhilesh. He had only campaigned for younger brother Shivpal Yadav, daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and old associate Parasnath Yadav.