PM Modi likely to attend Mulayam Singh Yadav's funeral in Saifai tomorrow

New Delhi, Oct 10: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday is likely to attend the funeral of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav at his native village of Saifai in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district. Reportedly, it is 'highly likely' the prime minister will travel to Uttar Pradesh if weather conditions hold.

Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav died on Monday in Medanta hospital in Gurugram, where he was undergoing treatment.

Mulayam, 82, was admitted in the hospital since August and was shifted in ICU on October 2 and had been on lifesaving drugs since. The body of Mulayam Singh Yadav arrived at his native Saifai village here Monday evening, hours after the leader died at a Gurugram hospital.

It has been kept at the Saifai festival ground for "darshan" and the cremation will take place on Tuesday afternoon.

Born on 22 November 1939, Mulayam Singh Yadav was a founder-patron of the Samajwadi Party. He served for three non-consecutive terms as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and also served as the Minister of Defence, Government of India.

A long-time parliamentarian, he was the Member of Parliament, representing the constituency of Mainpuri in the Lok Sabha, and has also earlier served as the Member of Parliament from Azamgarh and Sambhal constituencies.

He was often referred to as Netaji (meaning respected leader in Hindi) by party leaders and workers.

Mulayam Singh Yadav was mentored by leaders such as Ram Manohar Lohia--an activist for the Indian independence movement and a socialist political leader -- and Raj Narain--an Indian freedom fighter and politician.