LUCKNOW: Ending days of suspense, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav flagged of his son, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s rath yatra with Shivpal Yadav in tow, seeking to project a united face after a bitter public power struggle that threatened to derail the party’s Assembly poll campaign

The SP patriarch arrived at La Martinere grounds – the flag off venue – soon after Akhilesh reached there. Shivpal joined them moments later.

With all eyes on who all turned up at the grand event, Mulayam took a seat on the stage and was flanked by Shivpal on one side and Akhilesh on the other to drive home a message that the party was united ahead of the UP Assembly elections. “Akhilesh ko hum shubhkamna detey hain (I wish him well),” Shivpal said, adding the “vikas sey vijay ki aur yatra” will send a message of unity across the state and halt BJP in its tracks. “Our target is to prevent BJP from coming to power in the state in the crucial 2017 elections,” he said. Before embarking on the highly-publicised rath yatra to highlight the development works undertaken by him during the last over four years, the 43-year-old chief minister said, “I want to thank youths for this historic event…From this yatra, we appeal to people to vote in favour of our party.” On recent controversy within the party and family, Akhilesh said, “Due to some conspiracies we were affected a bit, but in the days to come we will be able to form government again.” The presence of Mulayam, Shivpal and Akhilesh on one platform came days after bitter acrimony in the Yadav clan that saw no holds barred tit-for-tat sackings and expulsions of followers of warring camps Incidentally, the hi-tech customised rath broke down after barely one km journey forcing Akhilesh to shift to his official vehicle to resume his yatra. –PTI