Mulayam family feud will affect poll outcome in UP, say Sadhna Yadav

A day before polling takes place for the final round of Uttar Pradesh elections, the Samajwadi Party feud was raked up again by party patron Mulayam Singh’s wife Sadhna Yadav, who said it would affect the ongoing polls. Sadhna also asserted that she would like her son Pratik Yadav to enter politics.

“I have travelled and seen. It (the family feud) will definitely impact the polls,” said Sadhna, Mulayam’s second wife and Akhilesh’s stepmother, in an interview to a news agency and TV channels.

Sadhna also expressed her displeasure over the recent family feud.

“No matter what, nobody should have disrespected Netaji (Mulayam). It is he who founded and nurtured the party,” she said. “I don’t know how Akhilesh could do this but he definitely loves his father. I think he has been misguided.”

Sadhna, who is believed to be close to Shivpal Singh Yadav, said: “Shivpal has been insulted. He was not at fault.” Shivpal, Mulayam’s brother, has been at odds with Akhilesh over various issues.

Sadhna’s remarks are an indication that if the party does not do well in the polls, Akhilesh — who assumed supremacy of the SP sidlining his father — will have something to answer for. The stepmother, who was accused by an Akhilesh loyalist of doing “black magic” to create a rift in the family, has also timed her statement just ahead of the last phase of election.

Sadhna said she had been “insulted” a lot and she won’t “step back”, presumably from responding to the allegations.

“People should not have got the courage to say so many things about me. My father used to say that one should not publicise good work, but now the times are different. A chief secretary was transferred. People said I was behind it. It’s false, though I wish I was so powerful,” she said.

Rebuffing allegations that she was behind the SP feud, she said time has done everything and no one is to be blamed for it.

“I have given time to everyone...be it Professor (Ram Gopal Yadav) or his children, Dharmendra, Tipu or the daughters-in-law. I have considered all as a family. I always wanted to give credit to Netaji. I always thought I am able to do things because of him,” she added.

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