BJP dares Mulayam to act against SP leaders

New Delhi, Aug 16: BJP today dared SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to take action against his party leaders accused of land-grabbing and running illegal businesses, and wondered if he had put his son Akhilesh Yadav's interests above those of the party.

The yet another public criticism of the state government means that the Samajwadi Party has conceded defeat even before the poll bugle is sounded for the Assembly election due early next year, it said.

BJP National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh's comments at a press conference came a day after Yadav backed his brother Shivpal Yadav, who had said some party leaders were involved in land-grabbing and other unlawful activities and threatened to resign.

Singh said Mulayam Singh Yadav has publicly attacked the dispensation headed by his son five times since it came to power in 2012, stressing that it amounted to calling it an "unsuccessful government".

He suggested Yadav should apologise to the people as he had sought votes in 2012 in his name and then made Akhilesh the chief minister.

"Are the son's interests above the state's interests for you? Why have you not made him resign?" he asked Yadav. Singh also wondered if he would take action against SP leaders involved in land-grab and illicit liquor trade as alleged by his younger brother.

"I also want to ask him if SP will go to the elections with this unsuccessful chief minister? It is clear that SP has conceded defeat even before the election bugle has been sounded," he said.

At an event yesterday, the SP chief said he had read media reports that Shivpal, while expressing concern over touts and musclemen calling the shots in the state, had threatened to resign. "Shivpal is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he quits, then the situation for the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him," he said.

PTI