Narendra Modi should become PM again, says Mulayam Singh

At a time when the Samajwadi Party and its president Akhilesh Yadav have been vigorously campaigning against the Bharatiya Janata Party governments both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, his father and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav made a surprise statement on Wednesday, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I hope that Modi becomes prime minister again. He must get another term,” Mulayam said in his valedictory speech in Lok Sabha, that too, standing next to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

"I hope we see the same set of MPs in the next Lok Sabha," said the former chief minister.

Though Mulayam's supporters later claimed that his statement was in a lighter vein, it has raised many eyebrows. The SP has formed an alliance with its once arch-rival Bahujan Samaj Party against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in May.

Mulayam's statement comes amid opposition parties' efforts to form a grand alliance to unseat the Modi government. The SP is one of the key players to lead the opposition front against the National Democratic Alliance in the upcoming elections.

It may be recalled that all has not been well in the first family of the SP for the past two years, which also witnessed a major coup with Akhilesh taking over party's rein from his father, and his uncle Shivpal Yadav forming a rebel outfit.