Mulayam disowns Kalyan Singh after election rout
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today virtually disowned BJP rebel Kalyan Singh but blamed the Congress for his party's humiliating defeats in the assembly and Lok Sabha by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, reports Pankaj Jaiswal.
What was expected of Samajwadi Party after the rout in recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly-Lok Sabha elections, has happened. Samajwadi Party has began distancing itself from former Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader and ex-chief minister of UP, Kalyan Singh. So, Kalyan Singh now stands isolated.
"He (Kalyan) is not in Samajwadi Party. I repeat-he is not. Nor will he ever be in the party. Even if he wants," said Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav here in Lucknow on Saturday.
Ever since Kalyan Singh had turned friends, Samajwadi Party did not bag even a single seat of the sixteen on which by-polls were held in August and November. Kalyan Singh factor had also triggered dissension in the party-the biggest was falling out of one of the party founders--Azam Khan.
The friendship with Kalyan is considered among the reasons that damaged party's Muslim vote bank. Kalyan was the chief minister when the disputed structure-Babri mosque-was demolished. Though, after striking friendship with Mulayam and sharing platform with the party (he even attended the national convention of the party in Agra in August), Kalyan took "moral responsibility for the demolition." However, many prominent Muslim clerics and leaders said that they would never ever forgive Kalyan Singh.
However, when asked if the Kalyan factor was responsible for the damage that the Samajwadi Party suffered, Mulayam said: "It is the friendship with Congress that has damaged us."
When asked if Kalyan was not in the party then how come he participated in the Agra national convention of the party? Mulayam replied: "What could we do. He came. Anyone can come to a convention."
Mulayam Singh said all this at a press conference he held to announce statewide agitation to attract people's attention towards price rise and tell people that Congress and Bahujan Samajwadi Party were responsible for the rise. The agitation will be held on November 16.