Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who faced defeat in Assembly Elections, said that her election campaign was marred by party insiders.
Talking to The Times of India, Aparna further said that former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is also her brother-in-law, should stick to his word and hand over the reins of the Samajwadi Party to her father-in-law Mulayam Singh, as he vowed before the polls.
"In January this year, Akhilesh bhaiyya promised that after the Assembly Elections, he will hand back the post of SP national president to Netaji. He says he is a man of his words and that he keeps his promises. Now, I think he should live up to his promise," Aparna said.
Akhilesh Yadav had "overthrown" his father as national president of the party in a political coup of sorts on January 1, after a bitter battle of power and supremacy in the party.
Akhilesh had also expelled Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh and sacked his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav as the state unit president.
Mulayam Singh had not campaigned for party candidates in the state assembly polls and only addressed rallies for his brother Shivpal in Jaswantnagar and daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav in Lucknow.
"Right now, my family is everything to me. Netaji's word is final and until he is there, I can think of nothing else. I am upset that he was treated the way he was, and, that he is unhappy. I don't know what's in store in future. Now I only want the family to unite," Aparna told the daily.
Commenting on her defeat from the Lucknow Cantonment constituency, the wife of Prateek Yadav said: “I contested from a constituency that the SP had never won. We built a team, but it could never work cohesively because of ego clashes. I took up the matter with both Netaji and (Akhilesh) Bhaiyya, but nothing could be done."
The Samajwadi Party leader also hailed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for bringing a "positive and secular" change in the state.
"He (Yogi) needs to be given time. So far, I have discussed animal welfare with him, and I have found him very positive. I thought the decision on slaughterhouses is good because it seeks to bring them within a legal framework. But the government should rehabilitate those who have lost their livelihoods because of this decision," Mulayam's 'chhoti bahu' said.
She also liked Yogi's statement of drawing parallels between the postures used while performing Surya Namaskar and offering Namaz.
