Mulayam closely associated with NTR

Vijayawada: Samajwadi Party patriarch and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who passed away on Monday, was closely associated with the late AP chief minister and Telugu Desam founder president NT Rama Rao.

When NTR, as the chairman of National Front, called for a meeting in Vijayawada, Mulayam was among the prominent leaders who attended the meeting. Both NTR and Mulayam were socialists of a kind, maintained good personal relations between them and even shared views on governance.

Both leaders played a key role in the formation of a central government by the National Front in 1989. NTR even campaigned in Uttar Pradesh in support of Samajwadi Party and Mulayam.

Both had the ambition to become Prime Minister. After the formation of the NF government, Mulayam became the Union defence minister.

In AP, when NTR was ditched and N Bhaskara Rao became CM, Mulayam Singh stood by NTR.

Both NTR and Mulayam had identical experiences in politics. NTR lost hold on his party when his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu backstabbed him, took control of the party and became CM of united AP. As for Mulayam, his son Akhilesh Yadav eventually took control of the party after the father made him the CM of UP.