Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday made his presence felt in the Samajwadi Party, making assertions that are being interpreted as a sign that he has publicly thrown his weight behind his son Akhilesh after a whisper campaign about a rift between the two.

“You must meet me and share your problems in the party with me. Tell me if you are unhappy with anybody. I am here to solve your problem.

I am the patron of the party,” Mulayam told Samajwadi workers in the presence of Akhilesh at a meeting at the party headquarters in Lucknow on the occasion of New Year.

The comments came exactly two years after Samjawadi members had elected Akhilesh as party president and Mulayam as its patron by a show of hands. They had removed Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav from all posts of the organisation.

Shivpal recently formed his own political outfit, Progressive Samajwadi Party (Lohia).

Some Shivpal loyalists used to claim that Mulayam was dethroned by his son the way Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had usurped power from his father Shah Jahan. However, insiders always believed that it was a strategy chalked out by Mulayam to establish his son in the party and marginalise Shivpal.

On Tuesday, Mulayam played the affectionate father and unsparing guru. “I am very much here to take care of everything,” he said.

At one point, Mulayam scolded a section of workers when they raised the slogan “desh ka neta kaisa ho, Akhilesh Yadav jaisa ho (What kind of a leader we need in the Country, there should be one like Akhilesh Yadav)”.

“You must not raise irrelevant slogans. Learn to listen to your leaders when they are speaking”, he said and turned to Akhilesh.

The father told the son: “You are not exercising your duties as SP chief honestly. You must take responsibilities and act like a mature leader.”

Then Mulayam pointed out to the party workers: “The SP is a young party and your national president is also young. You have to achieve fixed targets step by step.”