Neta-ji aka Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party founder and three-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, died this morning after weeks in hospital. He was 82. The Samajwadi Party quoted Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav as saying: "My respected father and everyone's Neta-ji has died."

Born on November 22, 1939, Mulayam Singh first became an MLA in 1967. During his second term as MLA, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency and Mulayam Singh, like many opposition leaders, went to jail. Mulayam Singh was elected 10 times as an MLA and seven times as Lok Sabha MP.

Neta-ji aka Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party founder and three-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, died this morning after weeks in hospital. He was 82. The Samajwadi Party quoted Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav as saying: "My respected father and everyone's Neta-ji has died."

Born on November 22, 1939, Mulayam Singh first became an MLA in 1967. During his second term as MLA, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency and Mulayam Singh, like many opposition leaders, went to jail. Mulayam Singh was elected 10 times as an MLA and seven times as Lok Sabha MP.