My fault to have endorsed Akhilesh as UP CM: Mulayam

Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 7 (ANI): In a scathing attack at former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and his son Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said the former forged an alliance with the Congress which left no stones unturned in ruining his life. "The Congress party did not leave a single chance to ruin my life and Akhilesh formed an alliance with the same party for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections," Mulayam said at public rally here. Further hitting at the Congress he said, the grand old party had lodged various cases against him. Asserting that it was his fault to endorse Akhilesh as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2012, Mulayam said, "I should have become the chief minister. We would have won the UP polls with full majority if I was the chief minister. The Samajwadi Party lost the polls because of its own fault," he added. Backing his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav's comment where he likened Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav as 'Shakuni', Mulayam said, "Whatever he (Shivpal) said is true," adding, that attempts were made to ensure Shivpal's defeat. In a development confirming the split within the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal Yadav earlier announced the formation of a new party 'Samajwadi Secular Morcha'. Shivpal announced that Samajwadi Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav would be the party's national secretary. "In order to restore his (Mulayam) lost dignity and to bring all the Samajwadis together, there will soon be an announcement of this secular front in Lucknow," Shivpal told ANI. Shivpal will soon be meeting state and national level leaders regarding the same. The party will also include minorities, farmers and youth. Earlier in April, Shivpal had urged former state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to embrace Mulayam as the party head again. Shivpal asserted that Akhilesh should first unite the party and the family. "He should unite the whole family and the party. He should fulfil what he had said. He should fulfil his moral duty. Akhilesh should now embrace Mulayam Singh as the national chief of the party again," said Shivpal. Mulayam, earlier in April, had blamed Akhilesh for the Samajwadi Party's poor performance in the Assembly Elections and said that his son had insulted him and the voters understood that "one who is not loyal to his father, cannot be loyal to anyone" which led to the party's poll debacle. "I was badly insulted, which I had never faced in my life. Nevertheless, I tolerated it. No leader of any party in India had made his son a chief minister during his lifetime, but I made Akhilesh the Chief Minister of UP," he said. The Samajwadi Party got only 47 seats out 403 in the Uttar Pradesh elections. (ANI)