Lucknow: Adding more confusion to the seven-phase Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was listed as the star campaigner for another political outfit Lok Dal. This would be the second party after the ruling Samajwadi Party where Mulayam has been listed as the star campaigner. Now, it has to be seen for which party Mulayam campaigns, though he had announced to campaign for some selected candidates. Mulayam is expected to campaign for his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and SP candidate from Jaswantnagar seat on February 9.
He is also expected to go to Rampur in support of UP Minister Mohammad Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam on February 12. He will also campaign for his younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who is entering politics from Lucknow (Cantonment) seat. Earlier, Mulayam had shown his annoyance over the SP-Congress alliance and even reportedly said the party workers should oppose the Congress candidates. Meanwhile, Lok Dal today announced its 14-member star campaigners for the UP polls, which included three Bollywood stars besides Mulayam.
Lok Dal president Sunil Singh told UNI today that Mulayam was on the top of their star campaigners' list followed by himself. Three Bollywood stars Rajpal Yadav, Ehsan Khan and Markand Deshpande are in the list too. Rajpal has already been campaigning for his own political outfit -- Sarv Sambhav Party -- which is contesting the Assembly polls in alliance with the Lok Dal. "We have taken permission from Netaji to include his name in the star campaigners' list and he had told us that he would campaign for the party candidates," Mr Singh confirmed, adding that the campaigning by Mulayam would certainly give them an edge in certain pockets, including the Yadav borough of Etawah, Etah, Mainpuri and Sitapur.
The Lok Dal has already offered the embattled Samajwadi Party patriarch its symbol and national president's post. Earlier, Mr Singh had stirred a controversy when he made charges against Chief Minister and Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav that Mulayam was in the house arrest in Lucknow and no one was allowed to meet him. Lok Dal, which has the old election symbol of 'farmer ploughing field (khet jotata kisan)', on which Charan Singh had become the Chief Minister of UP, was contesting Assembly polls and had already announced names of over 150 candidates so far. In the 2012 elections, Lok Dal had contested 76 of the 403 seats but none of its candidates had won from any seat. (UNI)