Merger off, Qaumi Dal chief attacks Mulayam

Shahira Naim 

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, June 28

Breaking his silence days after the Samajwadi Party called off merger with Qaumi Ekta Dal, party president Afzal Ansari today launched a frontal attack on SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav for betraying his party.

Ansari, elder brother of Mukhtar Ansari, claimed that it was none other than Mulayam who had asked him to merge his party into the SP.

“Mulayam Singh Yadav has not only let us down but has insulted us. His son Akhilesh Yadav did not approve of his decision. It is clear that the Chief Minister disrespected the wishes of the party chief,” claimed Ansari, adding that the people of Purvanchal will not forget this treatment in a hurry. “Earlier the SP patriarch had similarly betrayed JD (U) and RJD during Bihar elections in order to benefit the BJP”, alleged Ansari.

Ansari disclosed that senior SP leaders Ambica Chaudhary and Balram Yadav had contacted him on the directives of Mulayam Singh Yadav. It was after this initial meeting that Ansari spoke to the SP president at his residence on June 11.