Estrangement ends

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hosted the birthday celebrations for his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow on Wednesday. It was nearly a year after the two shared a stage. Mulayam Singh had been famously upset with his elder son for having tied up with the Congress party for the March 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Interestingly, Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh’s estranged uncle and Mulayam Singh’s younger brother, was absent at the function to celebrate the patriarch’s 79th birthday. Shivpal, however, tweeted his good wishes to his elder brother. Close family relatives and friends, including Mulayam Singh’s younger son Prateek and his wife Aparna, had organised celebrations for the patriarch on Tuesday evening. At the Wednesday event, Akhilesh welcomed his father by offering him a shawl and touching his feet. Mulayam patted his son on the back to bless him. Political observers in Lucknow say this could mark the end of the estrangement between the father and his son.