New Delhi: Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was at the centre stage of Indian politics for over four decades. Known for his politics of backward caste and minorities veteran SP leader was able to lead a socialist movement and create a core constituency for himself.
The veteran leader breathed his last on Monday morning in Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital. Political leaders cutting across the party lines offered condolences on his demise.
HOW MULAYAM STOPPED SONIA FROM BECOMING PM IN 1999
The Vajpayee-led government lost the trust vote in 1998. The Congress party was banking on Mulayam Singh Yadav Party’s support to secure a majority. Sonia counting on Mulayam’s support had claimed to have the support of 272 MPs, but the former UP Chief Minister backed out citing foreign origins. According to the BJP leader, Subramanian Swamy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi blamed the Samajwadi Party supremo for not supporting her dream of becoming the Prime Minister of India.
Mulayam Singh Yadav was inspired by the socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. He carried forward Lohia’s legacy till the last, and his socialist movement was a force which uprooted the Congress from Uttar Pradesh in 1989.