The mystery surrounding why Kattappa killed Bahubali is such that even Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav could not resist the temptation to watch SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster sequel. The Senior Yadav, along with his close aides which also included leaders from anti-Akhilesh faction, watched BaahuBali 2 at Wave Cinema in Lucknow on Tuesday.
With his own family embroiled in a tug of war, the SP patriarch could have found some parallel with film’s twisted plot. As the film saw Mahendra Bahubali snatching the Kingdom from the clutches of his uncle Bhallal Dev, both Mulayam and his brother Shivpal were unseated from party’s key posts by Akhilesh just before elections.
Along with his non-political friends, Yadav was accompanied by party MLC Ashu Malik who is known for his proximity to Shivpal Singh Yadav, Mohd Shahid who was among the five party members expelled by Akhilesh Yadav last week for anti-party activities.
Last October, it was Ashu Malik’s complaint of alleged assault by then MoS Tej Narain Pandey which led to latter’s expulsion triggering a bitter power struggle within the party. Shahid was also vocal in his support to Shivpal Yadav who had recently announced that he will float a secular front led by Mulayam.
After Samajwadi Party was handed a humiliating defeat in state polls, Mulayam lashed out at his son Akhilesh for insulting him. “I was badly insulted, which I had never faced in my life. Nevertheless, I tolerated. No leader of any party in India had made his son a chief minister during his lifetime, but I made Akhilesh the Chief Minister of UP,” he had said in Mainpuri.
