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Mulayam Singh re-elected Samajwadi president

Photo: A.M. Faruqui

Hail the leader: Mulayam Singh Yadav being garlanded after his re-election as Samajwadi Party president during the Seventh National Convention of the party held in Jabalpur on Wednesday.

JABALPUR: Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected unopposed as Samajwadi Party president for another term at the party’s national executive meeting here on Wednesday.

Addressing the executive after his re-election, Mr. Yadav was highly critical of the foreign policy being pursued by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre. He said it was deviating from the time-tested policy that had given the country a non-aligned status and established its leadership among the comity of nations.

Mr. Yadav said it was due to the pressure of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) that the Centre had been forced to address the farmers’ crisis. In the same context, however, he went on to point out that the farmers’ loan waiver to the tune of over Rs. 60,000 crore announced by the UPA government would benefit the banks and not the farmers . The small and marginal farmers were in the clutches of money lenders, he said, pointing out that the Central Government lacked a blueprint to address this problem. He said the farmers were still committing suicide. The Samajwadi Party president said that small traders and businessmen were suffering and prices had started soaring due to the introduction of VAT.

The Bahujan Samaj Party Government in Uttar Pradesh had imposed a ban on university elections. This was vehemently opposed and it was due to the struggle and sacrifices of Samajwadi Party workers that the State Government was eventually forced to lift the ban, he said.

Prominent among those seated on the dais were Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Jayaprada, Karnataka State unit party president and former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, party general secretary and M.P. Ram Gopal Yadav, Mr. Mulayam Singh’s son Akhilesh Yadav, and Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, whose Samajwadi Janata Party has now merged with the Samajwadi Party.

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