Lok Sabha polls anytime after a year: Mulayam

Lucknow, March 23 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Friday asked his party workers to brace up for the Lok Sabha polls which he predicted could be held anytime "after a year".

Addressing a gathering at the Lohia Park in the state capital on the 102nd birth anniversary of his mentor and socialist thinker Ram Manohar Lohia, Mulayam Singh said the "government should come true to the expectations of the people" if they wanted to reap dividends in the Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier this week, at a press conference at the party office, Mulayam Singh had said that he was not joining the UPA II as there "was just one year left and there was no use of joining the central government".

Giving the present Uttar Pradesh government led by his son Akhilesh Yadav six months to "show results", Yadav said though he was not the chief minister he would be watching every step of the government, its officials and ministers.

Pointing at his son, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he asked him to send a copy of the SP manifesto to every official so that the bureaucracy was aware of the priorities and promises made by the party during the recently concluded assembly polls.

"Lok Sabha elections can happen any time after a year, and so the party machinery should be ready for early polls," he said while pointing out that people had very high expectations from the party this time and there was no way that they can squander the mandate.

Exhorting partymen and ministers to live up to the socialist ideology, he even took pot shots at certain speakers who, speaking before him, told the crowd to ensure that 'Netaji' became the prime minister in 2014.

"I know how one becomes prime minister, so leave that to me and work hard for the people so as to ensure an emphatic victory for the Samajwadi Party in the parliamentary elections," he mused.

Speaking on the occasion, Akhilesh Yadav said a road map for development of the state was being made and the state would soon see changes in government functioning.