After Mohammed Azam Khan, the Samajwadi Party has started making renewed efforts to brink back all those old timers who had left the party because of either Mr Amar Singh or Mr Kalyan Singh.
The Samajwadi Party, according to sources, is first trying to win back veteran socialist and now Congress MP Beni Prasad Varma.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav recently met Mr Varma in Parliament and is said to have asked him to return “home”.
“Laut aaiye, aap to ghar mein raja the,” is what Mr Yadav is believed to have told Mr Beni Prasad Varma.
Though Mr Varma denied that he had any plans of quitting the Congress, sources said that the chance meeting between the two leaders had considerably softened Mr Varma towards his one-time friend, Mr Yadav.
It is noteworthy that besides being political colleagues, Mr Yadav and Mr Varma have also been close friends for decades. The camaraderie that they shared remains unmatched and Mr Varma’s departure from the Samajwadi Party left many hearts broken in the party.
Mr Varma’s exit also took away the Kurmi vote from the Samajwadi Party and led to the victory of the Congress in Barabanki, Faizabad, Gonda, Bahraich and Shravasti.
The Samajwadi Party’s determination to regain lost ground by bringing back these old war horses is also evident from the fact that the party is trying to bring back those Muslim leaders who had exited from the party due to the Kalyan Singh factor.
These include Shafiqur Rehman Warq, now a BSP MP, and Salim Shervani and Afzal Ansari.
The party is also eyeing old Samajwadis like Umakant Yadav, Ramakant Yadav (now BJP MP), Bhalchandra Yadav and D P Yadav (now BSP MLA) who are now with different parties.