Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said his son and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav had “humiliated and betrayed” him. “When he [Akhilesh] does not respect his father [Mulayam], how will people respect him?” he said.

Mulayam Singh Yadav said he had never been as insulted by anyone else in his life. “While the people of UP voted for me in 2012, I chose to make Akhilesh the chief minister, but he humiliated me thereafter,” he said. “He [Akhilesh] continued insulting me for five years and talked to me only for five minutes.”

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right when he said that a man who had betrayed his own father could never be loyal to the people of the state. Modi had made the statement during an election rally in Kannauj. “Ye sahi hai ki jo baap ka nahin hua, wo kisi ka nahin ho sakta,” Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

He was speaking in Mainpuri where he had gone to inaugurate a hotel, reported The Times of India. The senior Samajwadi Party leader said the PM’s statement deterred people from voting for the party in the recently concluded elections. “But I did not say anything to anyone as my own blood was out against me,” he said.

He also criticised Akhilesh Yadav for forging an alliance with the Congress. On March 12, he had said, “If there was no alliance, Samajwadi would have formed the government.” 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 Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Yadav forming their own factions. After Akhilesh Yadav managed to prove majority, the father and son duo reconciled.