Fmr SP leader Shahid Siddique says Mulayam opportunistic

Former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddique on Monday said Mulayam Singh Yadav is an opportunistic person.

" I think this is the dual policy of Mulayam Singh Yadav. He is an opportunistic person who is with the NDA, as well as the United Progressive alliance (UPA). Earlier also he had failed to form the government with 40 lawmakers. He is hungry for power but I don't think he will be successful," he added, while referring to the former's latest comments on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mulayam had dubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a nice man with no independence to run his government the way he wanted to.

He asked that if the Prime Minister of the country did not have the independence to take decisions, how is it possible to run the country?

"If the Prime Minister shows that he is weak, then the country will be weak too," said Yadav.

Yadav's comments about the PM come at a time Singh's nine-year tenure at the helm of the UPA government has come under sharp scrutiny, even from within the Congress.

A growing chorus of political figures and commentators have crticised Singh for being unable to assert his authority over a government whose functioning has been hobbled by a series of scams, a lacklustre economy and policy paralysis.