A socialist who built an anti-Congress front

Graduating to politics, first as a protege of socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia, and then of Chaudhary Charan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav led the anti-Congress movement in Indian politics after the departure of Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Charan Singh. He was one of the main players in the anti-congress camp till BJP became the principal challenger.

- Rajiv Srivastava

"Both Lohia and Chaudhary Charan Singh were impressed by the sheer hard work put in by Mulayam as a youth," Rajpal Singh, president of SP's Meerut unit who was with Mulayam from 1974, said. "Lohia first met Mulayam in 1963 during the campaigning for the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha bypoll. Mulayam used to campaign for Samyukta Socialist Party candidates in Etawah on a bicycle. At the time of ticket distribution in the 1967 assembly elections, Lohia sent senior Samyukta leader Maharaj Singh Bharati for ticket distribution, and asked him to look after Mulayam."