Mayawati left Dalits in the lurch, says Mulayam Singh

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday trained his guns on arch rival Mayawati, accusing her of siding with the upper castes and leaving the backwards and scheduled castes and tribes in the lurch.

At an Other Backward Classes (OBC) convention, organised by the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), Mulayam Singh took on the Bahujan Samaj Party chief directly, claiming that the real welfare of Dalits was being done by his party-led Uttar Pradesh government.

While Mayawati and Mulayam Singh share an old hostility, Yadav has rarely attacked Mayawati by name and has always chosen to target her party instead.

Delighted to see the crowd at the convention, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said such a large turnout was set to give sleepless nights to his opponents and the claimants of Dalit welfare.

He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying till the SP "captures power at Delhi" welfare of marginalised sections of society and comprehensive development of the state was not possible.

Calling Modi as "collector saheb", Mulayam Singh said the prime minister had made hollow promises to people in the country while the SP was always firm on its commitments made during elections.

The state government, run by his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has fulfilled most of its electoral promises, he added.