Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has developed a soft corner for once arch-rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who is undergoing jail term after being convicted by the court in the fodder scam. While addressing party workers at the party headquarters in Lucknow, Singh said that had he been in power Lalu Prasad Yadav would not have been in jail.
Without naming Lalu Yadav, Singh said that there was a time when parties having similar ideologies were in majority and it was his turn to become the Prime Minister. But his name was opposed by someone who is now in jail. Singh said that he does not want to take the name of the person as he is a relative now. He added that if he was in power he (Lalu Yadav) would not have landed in jail. The political rivalry between the two leaders had come to an end when Lalu Yadav’s youngest daughter Raj Lakshi was married to Mulayam Singh’s grandnephew Tej Pratap.
When Singh was asked had he been the Defence Minister what would he say to those leaders asking for evidence of airstrike in Pakistan, he evaded the question and said that at present he has not been made the Defence Minister by the people of the country, therefore he can’t say anything.
