Mulayam Singh Yadav was open to all political possibilities. He had been linked with several parties.
Digital Desk: Mulayam Singh Yadav, the founder of the Samajwadi Party, died on Monday morning in a Gurugram hospital after a long illness. The 82-year-old has been in the hospital since August.
Yadav presented the most powerful political family in Uttar Pradesh. He was elected MLA 10 times and MP 7 times. He was also the Defence Minister and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times. He even appeared to be running for prime minister for a time. Today, his last rites will be held in Saifai.
In Saifai, an elevated platform was built overnight amid drizzles for Mulayam's final rites.
Hundreds of men and machines worked through the night in continuous rainfall to build a stage for socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's last rituals on Tuesday.
Amid rain showers and overcast skies, they also constructed a massive tarpaulin pandaal supported by metal frames to cover the space before the platform. The platform and pandaal are both built within the Mela grounds, where the famed annual Saifai Mahotsav was held five years ago.
His dead remains were taken to Saifai on Monday evening and kept in his 'kothi,' where people flocked to pay their last respects to "Netaji," as Yadav was affectionately known.
With hundreds of people queuing in the drizzle for the final darshan, Yadav's body was carried at 10 a.m. Tuesday from the residence to a larger auditorium on the Mela Ground premises, some one mile away, to allow people to pay their last respects.
N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief of the Telugu Desam Party and former CM of Andhra Pradesh, pays his tribute to veteran politician Mulayam Singh Yadav at Saifai, Uttar Pradesh.
Ashutosh Sinha, a Samajwadi Party MLC in Saifai for the death rites,stated, "I arrived here around 10 p.m. yesterday night. People from all walks of life have been pouring in to pay their final respects to 'Netaji,' and this trend has continued into the morning. Party workers from throughout the country have gathered to see their beloved 'netaji' for the last time and tell him farewell."
Manoj Mishra, an Etawah local, recalled how 'Netaji' knew everybody in the region by their first names. "Yadav was extremely popular among the locals because of his ability to connect with the masses," he added.
A group of six men from Chunar village in Mirzapur, eastern Uttar Pradesh, were among those queuing outside the kothi earlier in the morning.
The cremation is set for the afternoon, and preparations for the last rituals at Saifai were underway amid tight security presence.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are expected to arrive.
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