Mulayam Singh Yadav mixes takes dig at LK Advani

SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav today took a dig at BJP leader LK Advani, saying he had become "weak" after strengthening the party. "I have a regret. Don't feel bad over it. You played a key role in strengthening the party," he said in the Lok Sabha while addressing Advani.

"I had differences with you over some issues which were not small but concerned the country. This brought you from there (treasury benches) to here (opposition)," he told the former Deputy Prime Minister without elaborating.

In his speech on the last day of the 15th Lok Sabha, Yadav said he was speaking good things about Advani who had now become "weak" as he had ignored his advice. He remembered how the BJP leader had become upset with him when Chandra Shekhar was Prime Minister. "Chandra Shekhar called both of and settled our differences. Since then, our relation has remained unchanged," he said.

Yadav said all the parties should forget the differences as the term of the Lok Sabha ends and they go to polls.

Expressing gratitude towards Sonia Gandhi, he said, "Whenever I have passed on slips to her requesting something, she has always acted on them." He also praised the conduct of Speaker Meira Kumar in running the House and said his party would not field a candidate against her in the next elections.

SP, though, is an insignificant player in Bihar, from where Kumar fights elections. "People are coming to seek SP's ticket to fight but I have said that we won't put up a candidate against you," he said.