New Delhi: Samajwadi Party founder and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away this morning after prolonged illness. The 82 year old veteran leader breathed his last at a private hospital in Gurugram, Haryana. He was on life saving drugs and in ICU for the past several days.
He was admitted to the Hospital on 22nd of August and shifted to ICU on the night of 1st of October. Currently a member of Lok Sabha from Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, he was elected to house seven times.
He is survived by his two sons. His son Akhilesh Yadav is now party president.
Born in 1939 in Saifai village of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh 3 times. He also served as Defence Minister between 1996 to 1998. Mulayam Singh Yadav came into politics after getting influenced by socialist leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia, Madhu limaye and others.
He became a prominent face in regional politics. Popularly known as ‘Netaji’ among his party workers Mulayam Singh Yadav was also called ‘Dhartiputra’ or son of the soil by his supporters. He was a wrestler also and revered as a politicians using manuevers of wrestling in politics for his subtle political moves at crucial times.
Mr. Mulayam singh also served as a lecturer for a brief while at a college in Karhal. He was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1967 and became member of the assembly 10 times.
In 1977, he was inducted into the Cabinet led by Ram Naresh Yadav as the Minister for Cooperatives and Animal Husbandry. While he became the president of the Lok Dal (People’s Party) in the same year, he headed the Lok Dal (B) after a split in the party. He was elected as the president of the Janata Dal in 1980. In 1992, he founded the Samajwadi Party and led his party to power in UP a year later in an alliance with BSP.
