Adityanath rues Mulayam's omission from SP star campaigners' list, calls it irony

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Sunday rued the omission of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's name from the list of its "star campaigners", terming it as an "irony".

The SP patriarch had been left out of his party's list of 40 "star campaigners" Saturday, but was included in it Sunday after the omission caused a flutter in political circles.

"See the irony! His own son has struck his name off the campaigners' list of the party to establish which he campaigned door to door along with his brother, wearing worn out slippers," lamented Adityanath in his Tweet, without naming the 79-year-old socialist stalwart Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav.

"While mulling over the political capital earned by him, he (Mulayam) must be thinking: Poot kaput to kya dhan sanchay, poot saput to kya dhan sanchay? (What's the need to accumulate wealth if the son is undeserving one; and why to accumulate it when he is deserving one?)" he added tersely.

The chief minister also deprecated Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's step of forging a poll alliance with his father's arch rival Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, terming the coalition as one "aimed at usurping power".

"Aping Mughals to usurp power, he alienated his own uncle and even father and has gone on to sit in the laps of their arch rivals," said Adityanath without naming the SP chief. The chief minister also cautioned people to beware of such

"opportunists" and appealed to them to teach them a lesson in the upcoming general elections. "There is a rustic saying: 'Jo baap ka na hua, wo aapka kya hoga? (One who did not care for his father, how will he care for you?" said Adityanath, and hoped "the people will deliver such opportunist, power-hungry leaders an apt lesson during the upcoming elections.)"