I want to see Mulayam Singh Yadav as next PM: N D Tiwari

LUCKNOW: Congress partriarch and former chief minister Narain Dutt Tiwari on Friday greeted Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on his birthday and blessed him to become the next prime minister. "Mulayam is a very capable leader and I sincerely wish to see him as the country's next PM," Tiwari said in his birthday greetings to Yadav.

Defying age and his physical disabilities, Tiwari called on Mulayam at his 5 Vikramaditya Marg residence and showered praises on him without caring for his party. "I am 89-year-old now and cannot do much. But I now want that Mulayam Singh should lead the country," Tiwari said.

Mulayam personally received the veteran Congress leader. Tiwari warmly hugged the SP chief and kept blessing him saying that he had to play a big role in nation building. When Tiwari got seated, his eyes surfed on the photographs of top socialist leaders that hung in Mulayam's drawing room. Tiwari termed the photographs as "excellent collection".

The bonhomie between Mulayam and the Congress warhorse is a matter of curiosity for political analysts. An undaunted Tiwari spent time with Mulayam discussing development issues pertaining to UP. He said that technology should be given encouragement and suggested that an institute be named for this purpose after Mulayam Singh Yadav in the state. Mulayam said he would rather propose to his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to set up an institute of development studies or technology in the name of Narain Dutt Tiwari.