india

Updated: Oct 30, 2019 19:39 IST

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday drove down to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Mall Avenue residence, reportedly to wish the Samajwadi Party founder on Diwali.

This was their second meeting since June when Yogi Adityanath had called on the Samajwadi Party patriarch to inquire about his health after a bout of illness that required a brief hospital stay.

In the photographs that have emerged of their Wednesday morning meeting, it appeared to be a less crowded affair than their last one. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh’s estranged uncle, Shivpal Yadav who had floated the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia was the only one around at their 25-minute meeting on Wednesday.

Neither the chief minister nor Mulayam Singh Yadav have yet spoken about the meeting that is being described by government officials as a courtesy call.

This was their first meeting after byelections on 11 assembly seats where the Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav won 3 of the 11 seats; the other 8 went to the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally Apna Dal (S). Akhilesh Yadav, bolstered by the outcome in the bypolls, promptly decided to launch a warm-up statewide campaign - on bicycles, the SP’s election symbol - against the Yogi Adityanath government.

Shivpal and elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav have, unlike son Akhilesh Yadav, maintained cordial relations with Yogi Adityanath and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Soon after Shivpal broke ranks with his nephew Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to set up his political outfit, the Adityanath government had allotted a bungalow to him in 2018. More recently, Yogi Adityanath also promptly turned down a proposal by the estate department to withdraw a Mercedes Sports Utility Vehicle given to Mulayam by the Uttar Pradesh government when son Akhilesh Yadav was in power. There is also a proposal to replace the SUV with a Toyota Prado.

An official at the Chief Minister’s Office suggested that Yogi Adityanath’s meeting and a gift was a courtesy extended to the state’s former chief ministers. Yogi Adityanath had, after meeting Mulayam Singh Yadav, also called on BJP veteran and former governor Kalyan Singh.