SP launches welfare schemes on Mulayam's birthday

The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) Friday went overboard to celebrate the 75th birthday of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

With full page advertisements in newspapers and a string of functions planned ahead, party leaders say the day needed to be "celebrated in-style as 'neta ji' was on his way to become the next prime minister of the country".

The birthday celebrations of the SP chief were a low key affair in the past.

The state government led by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will launch several social welfare schemes on the occasion.

These include the foundation laying of 'Avadh Shilp Gram' on the lines of Dilli Hat in Delhi, inauguration of radio taxis and online payment system for commercial vehicles in Uttar Pradesh.

The foundation for a super speciality cancer institute here will also be laid on the occasion.

This institute will also offer research and educational facilities related to the disease, as also human resource training facilities in medical and paramedical streams, officials said.