Mayawati-Mulayam Singh Yadav shares same stage after 25 years

Guwahati: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati and Founder of Samajwadi Party Mulayam Singh Yadav shared the stage together on Friday as the two arch rivals come together after 25 years. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accompanied his father at Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh.

In a speech delivered by Mulayam Singh Yadav, he thanked Mayawati for campaigning for him in Mainpuri. He said, "We welcome and honour Mayawati for coming here to support us." Singh will contest from Mainpuri in UP in the Lok Sabha elections.

On the other hand, Mayawati in her speech praised Mulayam saying that "I am hopeful that you will vote Mulayam Singh Yadav to power with record votes. There is no doubt that the Samajwadi Party under its founder had worked for the betterment of all section of society in UP. He is the true leader of the oppressed and backward castes."

It was twenty years ago, on June 1997 that Mulayam Singh Yadav was in Mainpuri for a diametrically opposite reason. He had made a clear purpose for the visit saying that he was there to build up a momentum and unseat BSP chief from UP.

Addressing a rally in Mainpuri then, he announced that the BSP Chief will be dismissed in two months. Mulayam marched to Lucknow four days later to canvas support against her who had ditched the SP-BSP alliance and joined hands with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mulayam's rally was attended by Chandrababu Naidu, former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, Ram Vilas Paswan and HS Surjeet of the CPI (M). On the same day Mayawati also addressed a separate rally. The hostility between the two came to a head in the 1995 Guest House case when SP workers kidnapped BSP MLAs and illegally detained Mayawati and it has been alleged that Mayawati was also physically attacked in the mayhem.

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