Even though the head of the Samajwadi Party was a wrestler of the political arena of Uttar Pradesh, but in national politics too, his bets often turned the dice. He made one such proposal in 1996, which is still discussed today and the Communist Party of India (CPM) still considers it to be its mistake. In fact, in 1996, Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed to make Jyoti Basu the Prime Minister of the United Front government. However, Basu could not occupy the top post as his party CPM was against it.

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The senior Marxist leader later termed the party’s decision not to be part of the United Front government as a “historic mistake”. SP vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda said that initially VP Singh’s name had cropped up for the post of Prime Minister of United Front, a coalition of 13 parties. But V P Singh turned down the offer. Nanda, a close aide of SP founder Yadav, said, “Mulayam Singh Yadav had said then that Jyoti Basu should be the prime minister. He (Yadav) and I went to Banga Bhawan (Delhi) and proposed to Basu.’

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Everyone agreed to Mulayam’s proposal, but there were differences among the communists

The former West Bengal minister recalled that Basu had asked him how he could become the prime minister as the Left did not have enough numbers in the 545-member Lok Sabha. Nanda said, ‘We told him (Basu) that you just agree to our proposal.’ He said that after this he met senior leaders of different parties Harkishan Singh Surjit, HD Deve Gowda, Ramakrishna Hegde, Biju Patnaik and Lalu Prasad regarding this proposal and they all agreed.

Then the post of PM did not even come in the hands of Mulayam

“This whole initiative was taken by Mulayam Singh,” Nanda said. Nanda said Basu had suggested that Yadav be made the prime minister after the party did not get permission. “But unfortunately due to some reasons Mulayam Singh Yadav could not become the Prime Minister,” he said.

Mulayam had a close relationship with Kolkata, conference held 5 times

He said Mulayam Singh Yadav had close ties with Kolkata and the Samajwadi Party has held its national executive meeting in the city five times since its inception in 1992. Nanda, who was a minister in the Left Front government in the state, said, “He (Yadav) had a personal relationship with Jyoti Basu and the former West Bengal chief minister was very fond of him.” The late Amar Singh, a longtime close aide of Yadav, was also from Kolkata.