New Delhi:
The Samajwadi Party family problems are spilling out. Amar Singh has been airing his woes publicly and the loss in the recent Assembly by-elections seems to be a particularly prickly point.
Over the weekend, Amar Singh said on the NDTV show, Your Call, that over-confidence had cost the party the seats it lost. On another TV channel Singh even said, Mulayam Singh Yadav "behaved symbolically like Mayawati" while campaigning in the Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency.
"These people made the mistake of thinking that this was their stronghold, similar to Rai Bareli or Amethi strongholds of Indiraji or Soniaji or Rahulji. But look at the amount of time these Congress leaders have spent in their constituencies. In his campaign Mulayam Singhji behaved symbolically like (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Mayawati and did not campaign on the ground at all. This was our complacency," a release from the channel quoted him as saying.
On Your Call, Singh refuted criticism that his decision to ally with Kalyan Singh had cost the party its Muslim vote bank, Amar Singh said his absence because of his illness actually hurt the party. "If I had been in Firozabad, we would not have lost the election. We lost because of complacency, because of deploying lesser resources. Firozabad election was a failure of our management," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav, he said "was overconfident, because he won the last election, BSP and Congress candidates colluded this time." And he adds that it was not just Akhilesh's "overconfidence" but "that of Mulayam Singh and his entire family and my illness," that led to the defeat.
By-election were held in Ferozabad because Akhilesh Yadav, who had won the seat in the Lok Sabha elections, had given it up in favour of Kinnaur, the other seat he'd won. Akhilesh's wife Dimple contested from the Samajwadi Party but lost to the Congress' Raj Babbar.
Of course, it is not just Firozabad and the byelections that Amar Singh is sulking about. He said the party did not stand by him during his illness. "I now know that in a critical situation, it is only the family that gives support. It is not the party that stands by you, the party only uses you for its own convenience ...Mulayam Singh came only once (to meet me in Singapore). I have to say that more than the party, my family put all work aside to stay by my side."
Singh said he was unfairly being made the scapegoat for the party's failures.
But his prime targets, Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav have chosen not to react to Amar Singh's public tale of woe.
Asked about Singh saying the defeat in the recent UP Assembly by-elections was due to the Samajwadi Party's over-confidence, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said that was "internal democracy" in his party and everyone had a right to speak his mind.
He also said there was no problem with lieutenant Amar Singh.
Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav, however, evaded questions on Amar Singh. "He is my uncle. He is family. I don't want to comment right now."
Over the weekend, Amar Singh said on the NDTV show, Your Call, that over-confidence had cost the party the seats it lost. On another TV channel Singh even said, Mulayam Singh Yadav "behaved symbolically like Mayawati" while campaigning in the Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency.
"These people made the mistake of thinking that this was their stronghold, similar to Rai Bareli or Amethi strongholds of Indiraji or Soniaji or Rahulji. But look at the amount of time these Congress leaders have spent in their constituencies. In his campaign Mulayam Singhji behaved symbolically like (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Mayawati and did not campaign on the ground at all. This was our complacency," a release from the channel quoted him as saying.
On Your Call, Singh refuted criticism that his decision to ally with Kalyan Singh had cost the party its Muslim vote bank, Amar Singh said his absence because of his illness actually hurt the party. "If I had been in Firozabad, we would not have lost the election. We lost because of complacency, because of deploying lesser resources. Firozabad election was a failure of our management," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav, he said "was overconfident, because he won the last election, BSP and Congress candidates colluded this time." And he adds that it was not just Akhilesh's "overconfidence" but "that of Mulayam Singh and his entire family and my illness," that led to the defeat.
By-election were held in Ferozabad because Akhilesh Yadav, who had won the seat in the Lok Sabha elections, had given it up in favour of Kinnaur, the other seat he'd won. Akhilesh's wife Dimple contested from the Samajwadi Party but lost to the Congress' Raj Babbar.
Of course, it is not just Firozabad and the byelections that Amar Singh is sulking about. He said the party did not stand by him during his illness. "I now know that in a critical situation, it is only the family that gives support. It is not the party that stands by you, the party only uses you for its own convenience ...Mulayam Singh came only once (to meet me in Singapore). I have to say that more than the party, my family put all work aside to stay by my side."
Singh said he was unfairly being made the scapegoat for the party's failures.
But his prime targets, Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav have chosen not to react to Amar Singh's public tale of woe.
Asked about Singh saying the defeat in the recent UP Assembly by-elections was due to the Samajwadi Party's over-confidence, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said that was "internal democracy" in his party and everyone had a right to speak his mind.
He also said there was no problem with lieutenant Amar Singh.
Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav, however, evaded questions on Amar Singh. "He is my uncle. He is family. I don't want to comment right now."
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