Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, a photo of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has gone viral (Photo: Arjun Ram Meghwal/Twitter) 
Lucknow: As the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections draw near, a photo of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has sparked fresh controversy. The picture was first shared on Twitter by Union Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal who can be seen seeking Bhagwat’s blessings as Yadav looks on.
Tweeting out the photo on Monday night, the Union Minister said that he had sought Bhagwat’s blessings on his birthday. Reportedly, the photo was taken in Delhi earlier this week during the wedding reception of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s granddaughter.
Since then, both the BJP and the Congress have shared the photo to take potshots at the SP.
“Does the S in ‘new SP’ stand for sanghavad?” the UP Congress handle wanted to know. The Twitter debate continued as the Samajwadi Party hit back with a furious rejoinder, noting that leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party had also sought Yadav’s blessings at the same event. The Congress, it said, had forgotten ‘political etiquette’.
“The leaders of Congress’ ally NCP also took the blessings of Netaji in the program the Congress was photographing. What will Congress say on this?” the party wanted to know.
The BJP’s Uttar Pradesh handle also shared the post, contending that “a picture says a lot”. The Samajwadi Party appeared to agree, adding that the picture revealed a secret that “someone had come to tell”.
“The useless are going to go and the cyclists are going to come,” it concluded.
In recent months, the Samajwadi Party has repeatedly hit out the BJP and RSS. Going by the timeline of events, the photo appears to have been taken a couple of days after the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate conducted a string of raids and searches at the offices and residences of some SP leaders. Following the move, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had claimed that the institutions such as the I-T department, and the ED and CBI were being brought forward so that Samajwadi Party does not form a government in Uttar Pradesh.
“The entire country knows that whenever and wherever this party is about to lose an election, they bring such institutions forward,” he had alleged.
A day later, Akhilesh also accused the Yogi Adityanath-led government of tapping the phones of SP leaders.
“All our phone calls are being heard. All the calls in our party’s office are being listened to. The Chief Minister himself is listening to some of the recordings in the evening. If you contact us, then know that your call is being listened to by them,” he had said on Sunday.