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Clash of Yadavs creates scare in Sambhal

The spectre of poll violence looms large over Sambhal constituency in western Uttar Pradesh, where Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has locked horns with his friend-turned-foe D P Yadav, contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.

Apprehending danger to his life during the electioneering, D P Yadav says, ''Hamari hatiya kara di jayagee (I will be liquidated). I have already sought the intervention of the Election Commission and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh for providing adequate security arrangements in the constituency.''

Making an oblique accusation against the defence minister, D P Yadav described his brother's recent murder in Ghaziabad district as part of a political conspiracy to terrorise him and keep him out of the electoral fray.

After quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party, D P Yadav recently joined the Samajwadi Party. When the latter party denied him the Sambhal seat, he defected to the Lok Tantrik Congress, which is a BJP ally in the state.

''Mulayam Singhji ne dhoka diyai hai humko aur Mainpuri ke janta ko (he has deceived me and the people of Mainpuri),'' said D P Yadav, asking the defence minister why he had deserted Mainpuri which returned him to Parliament in the last election.

D P Yadav had won the Lok Sabha seat from Sambhal in the last poll by a margin of over 13,000 votes.

The rural constituency of over 1.1 million voters is dominated by Yadavs and Muslims.

UNI

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