UP Elections 2017: Lok Dal hopes Mulayam will campaign for its candidates

With Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav opposing the SP-Congress alliance, Lok Dal still sees an opportunity to convince him to campaign for its candidates in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

“We are hopeful that ‘netaji’ (Mulayam) will campaign for our candidates. He was with our party and is a true samajwadi (socialist) and we are using his photograph in our campaign,” Lok Dal National President Sunil Singh told PTI.

On senior party leader Shivpal Yadav’s statement after filing his nominations from Jaswant Nagar (Etawah) that he will float a new party after March 11, Sunil said in an interview, “I hope we will remain together.”

Lok Dal has already offered the embattled Samajwadi Party patriarch its symbol and national president’s post.

Sunil said his party in EC’s records was a registered, unrecognised party that was formed by veteran socialist leader Charan Singh way back in 1980 and “netaji” (Mualayam) was its founder member.

“I have offered Lok Dal’s symbol and national president post to ‘netaji’, who is still our leader,” he said.

Lok Dal, which has the old election symbol of ‘farmer ploughing field (khet jotta kissan)’, on which Charan Singh had become the chief minister of UP, wants to contest Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and has already short-listed names of 100 candidates.