Etawah:
Holi festivities in Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, witnessed the warring uncle and nephew, Shivpal Singh Yadav and party president Akhilesh Yadav, share the dais after a long time.
Both the leaders attended the Holi function yesterday, with Akhilesh also touching the feet of the former and taking his blessings.
Akhilesh Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, also restrained his and his uncle's supporters from raising slogans.
"This is the time for Holi festivities...politics should be kept out of it...such sloganeering spoils the atmosphere and creates distance...things should be changed, otherwise they will only weaken us. We need to think about the future and move ahead...I take a decision only after giving it a proper consideration and not under anyone's influence," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav added that if slogans had to be raised, they should be in favour of the "cycle", the party symbol.
Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh were involved in a bitter battle with each other in the party since 2016.
On the occasion, Shivpal Yadav said, "Festivals are more fun if people have love for each other in their hearts. In villages, people give importance to trivial issues that create animosity and the clever people take the advantage...people need to sit, talk and remove the misunderstandings...this will not give an opportunity to others to take advantage of the situation...people need to forget their differences on Holi."
Though Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, a confidant of Akhilesh, were not on the dais, other members of the Yadav family, including MPs Dharmendra Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, were present.
The Yadav family celebrates Holi in Saifai every year with the SP patriarch joining family members, villagers, party workers, supporters and friends in the festivities.
Shivpal Yadav had not taken part in the Holi festivities at Saifai last year and celebrated the occasion with his supporters at his Etawah residence instead.
Both the leaders attended the Holi function yesterday, with Akhilesh also touching the feet of the former and taking his blessings.
Akhilesh Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, also restrained his and his uncle's supporters from raising slogans.
"This is the time for Holi festivities...politics should be kept out of it...such sloganeering spoils the atmosphere and creates distance...things should be changed, otherwise they will only weaken us. We need to think about the future and move ahead...I take a decision only after giving it a proper consideration and not under anyone's influence," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav added that if slogans had to be raised, they should be in favour of the "cycle", the party symbol.
Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh were involved in a bitter battle with each other in the party since 2016.
On the occasion, Shivpal Yadav said, "Festivals are more fun if people have love for each other in their hearts. In villages, people give importance to trivial issues that create animosity and the clever people take the advantage...people need to sit, talk and remove the misunderstandings...this will not give an opportunity to others to take advantage of the situation...people need to forget their differences on Holi."
Though Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, a confidant of Akhilesh, were not on the dais, other members of the Yadav family, including MPs Dharmendra Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, were present.
The Yadav family celebrates Holi in Saifai every year with the SP patriarch joining family members, villagers, party workers, supporters and friends in the festivities.
Shivpal Yadav had not taken part in the Holi festivities at Saifai last year and celebrated the occasion with his supporters at his Etawah residence instead.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
