Akhilesh releases SP manifesto, Mulayam skips the event

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was conspicuous by his absence in the function at party headquarters where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav released election manifesto for assembly polls 2017.

Akhilesh , the National SP President, reached the party office and waited for Mulayam to turn up but he did not. The senior Minister Mohd Azam Khan went to his residence but to no avail and Akhilesh, flanked by his wife and MP from Kannuaj, party general secretary Kironmoy Nanda and other senior ministers, had to release party manifesto in Mulayam's absence.

According to party sources, Mulayam was particularly unhappy over denial of election tickets to some of his loyalists including Ambika Chaudhary who on Saturday left the SP to join Bahujan Samaj Party. It must have come as a shock to Mulayam who according to sources was pained at this development.

It may be recalled that Akhilesh has declared a total of 209 candidates for UP assembly polls which excluded many of Mulayam loyalists.

In Slides: Pictures from the election manifesto event:

Incidentally, Mulayam reached the party headquarters along with Azam immediately after Akhilesh and Dimple left. On getting information, Akhilesh came back to office and took blessings of his father.

Earlier, during the manifesto release, Akhilesh mentioned 'netaji' several times and also said that the 2012 manifesto was prepared by the latter.