Atal was a good PM but partymen didn't allow him to work: SP

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today termed Atal Bihari Vajpayee as "good prime minister" who accepted his demand for women's reservation but some of his own partymen did not let him work.

"Atalji acche pradhanmanti the. Lekin unki hi party ke log kaam karne nahi dete the" (Atalji was a good PM, but his own party men did not let him work)," Yadav said while addressing party workers at SP headquarter here.

Stating the SP was not against women reservation, Yadav said, "We are not against women reservation. It should be at party level. Parties should give 15-20 per cent reservation to women (while distributing tickets). If you did not give ticket, your registration would be cancelled."

He said if the reservation was fixed at 15-20 per cent, the parties would give two per cent more tickets to women fearing that their registration could be cancelled.

Yadav said he wanted to thank former PM Vajpayee, who called him up and sought his views on the issue.

"Atalji had called me. He later told me that your demand would be met but 25 per cent women reservation, as demanded by me that time, is too much. I asked him to fix it to 15 per cent, and women could also contest on any other seats," Yadav said while clearing his party's views on the issue with party workers.

He said, however, some persons in his party (BJP) who did not like him did not let him work on this issue.

Asking workers to work hard for party's success and without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yadav said, "yeh bhi dekho apni mehnat se yeh Pradhan Mantri ban gaya" (See, this man (Narendra Modi), he has become PM due to hard work).

"There is no replacement for hard work. Had I not worked hard, I would not have been in such a position. In my era there were big leaders like Kamlapati Tripathi, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna besides other SP leaders. You all should work hard," he added.