After the drubbing the Samajwadi Party has got in Uttar Pradesh, party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav seemed to place the blame on his son Akhilesh Yadav and their alliance with the Congress. “If there was no alliance, Samajwadi would have formed the government,” he said in an interview with The Economic Times.

He said he had publicly opposed the alliance as nobody “likes” Congress in Uttar Pradesh. “What was the need? We came to power in 2012 with full majority,” Mulayam Yadav said. The Samajwadi Party veteran leader also seemed to blame Akhilesh Yadav’s “arrogance” for the debacle.

However, later on Sunday he said the onus of the party’s defeat should not be put on his son. “Nobody is responsible for the loss. It seems that we were unable to impress the people. Everyone is responsible for the loss,” Mulayam Yadav told reporters.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won a whopping 321 seats in the Assembly elections while the SP-Congress alliance bagged only 54.

Prior to the Assembly elections in UP, the Samajwadi Party had witnessed infighting with then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Yadav forming their own factions. After Akhilesh Yadav managed to prove majority, the father and the son reconciled.