Tangled ties

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh might be more than a year away, but leaders of traditional rivals Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) have started taking potshots at each other already. Speaking at a function at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia University in Lucknow, state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said while he wasn't afraid, the fear of his bua (father's sister) - referring to Mayawati - must be alive in everyone's mind. Mayawati maintained she would concentrate on development rather than construct memorials or museums if voted to power. The last time the current CM had referred to the ex-CM of the state as bua, the BSP chief had retorted that it would be an "insult" to her to call his father and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav her younger brother.