Mulayam makes a U-turn

In a complete volte-face to his statement wherein he had promised to provide government jobs to rape victims if voted to power, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Mulayam Singh Yadav retracted from his controversial statement at Chandauli on Monday.

Yadav had made the statement while addressing an election rally at Itwa in Siddharthnagar on Sunday. It drew lot of flak from political parties in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

“I have been misquoted by the media. I had said that rape victims in UP were not getting justice and accused were roaming freely in the state,” Mulayam Singh Yadav told newsmen at the helipad at Chandauli before leaving for Varanasi.

Making a U-turn, he said: “I never issued any statement offering jobs to rape victims. I had only stressed on ensuring justice to rape victims.” The SP chief addressed election rallies in Chandauli and Varanasi on Monday.

Mulayam woos dalit voters

Condition of dalits had become worse under the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rule in the state. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed these views at an election rally in Chandauli on Monday. “Mayawati says she is dalit ki beti. But has she ever visited the house of any dalit,” the former UP chief minister said. Trying to get the attention of the crowd on the issue, the SP chief asked them: “Has Mayawati ever visited house of any dalit and shared their grievances?” The SP leader also stated that incidents of rape had increased manifold in the state during the BSP government.

If the Samajwadi Party came to power in the state all rape victims would get justice, the former union defence minister added.