Three more Mulayam kin enter politics

The recently concluded panchayat elections in UP saw an addition of three more kin of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who heads India’s biggest “political family”, taking a plunge into active politics taking the total number of the clan to a dozen.

The three latest entrants into the Mulayam “political clan” include his nephew Anshul Yadav, who was elected unopposed to the post of chairman of Etawah district panchayat, his niece Sandhya Yadav and relative Vandana Yadav.

Sandhya and Vandana had been elected district panchayat chairpersons of Mainpuri and Hamirpur respectively.

Interestingly, the Samajwadi Party (SP) nominated the three Mulayam kin in the panchayat polls reportedly to quell a possible rebellion in the party’s local units, which were unable to decide unanimously on candidates.

While the opposition parties have attacked the SP chief for promoting only his family members, SP leaders here justified the entry of the new members on the ground that all of them have been active in the field of social service for a considerable period of time.

“Ansul Yadav have been active in the social field for quite some time,” Etawah district SP chief Ashok Yadav said.

Anshul belongs to the second generation of leaders from Mulayam’s political family. Earlier Mulayam had launched his grand nephew Tej Pratap Yadav into politics, who successfully contested the Lok Sabha by-poll from the Mainpuri seat in 2014. Before Tej Pratap, SP general secretary and Mulayam’s brother Ram Gopal Yadav’s son Akshoy Yadav had been nominated from Ferozabad Lok Sabha seat in 2014 general elections.