Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday slammed the Congress for fielding Raj Babbar against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law in the Ferozabad Lok Sabha bypolls, but said he had nothing against Rahul Gandhi for campaigning for the party's candidate in the constituency.
SP to field Mulayam's daughter-in-law in bypoll
After Samajwadi Party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, its president Mulayam Singh Yadav today appointed his son Akhilesh as the UP party chief in an effort to revamp the state unit.
Smarting under the defeat in the Lok Sabha and assembly by-elections, Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Akhilesh Singh Yadav on Thursday said he was ready to accept any challenge thrown at him by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. "I have not challenged anybody but if I am challenged, I will accept it," he said when asked if he was daring Rahul Gandhi politically, who is being credited for actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar's victory in the Lok Sabha by-elections in Ferozabad.
According to some of those present in the meeting, Mayawati also referred to the family feud in the Yadav clan, saying after Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother Shivpal decided to contest separately the community votes were not transferred to the BSP, and the SP could not even save its "family seats".
Mulayam's cousimn and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav's son Akshay is all set to take the electoral plunge in Ferozabad. However, he faces really tough competition from BJP's S P Singh Baghel. Renu Mittal reports.