Mulayam re-elected Samajwadi Party president

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav was Wednesday unanimously re-elected for a ninth consecutive three-year term.

The announcement of his re-election on the first day of the party's three-day national convention was greeted with applause at the Janeshwar Mishra Park in the state capital by thousands of party workers and leaders.

In his presidential address, Yadav called upon the party leadership and cadres to be good and disciplined in their conduct so as to ensure that the party lives up to its righteous image among the people.

"People know every thing and they do not forget anything," he told his supporters while pointing out that the Samajwadi Party had its task cut out as a secular party which needed to keep the society intact.

Lucknow, he added, was a city reflecting the Ganga-Jamuni 'tehzeeb' where the Hindus and Muslims never clashed with each other.

Terming peaceful co-existence in the society as a must for development and progress of the state and the country, he warned people to stand guard against the communal agenda of some leaders and parties.

Sharad Yadav, the Janata Dal president who attended the convention on the personal invitation of the SP chief, in his address called his bonding with Mulayam Singh Yadav "unbreakable".

"Though Mualayam Singh and I am not related through blood, we are ones who will never part ways," he added.

The three-day convention will later deliberate upon the political and economic agenda and adopt it.

National issues other than the party's strategy for the 2017 state assembly polls will also come up for discussions.