SP chief Mulayam Singh gives a miss to award function by Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday gave a miss to an event where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav distributed Yash Bharti awards to 73 renowned personalities in diverse fields including social works, sports, and literature.

The Yash Bharti awards were started by Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 1994-95 but was stopped by previous BSP dispensation. It was reintroduced with the SP coming to power In 2012.

Mulayam was conspicuous by his absence from the function in the wake of ongoing family feud in the party.

Under the Yash Bharti, besides a memento and a cheque of Rs 11 lakh, the awardees were given Rs 50 thousand monthly pension.

The recipient included lyricist Santosh Anand, Naseerudin Shah, G Chodwhdury, Rakesh Kapoor, actor Saurabh Shukla, singer Anupama Raag, cricketers Piyush Chawla, Bhuveneshwar Kumar, actress Simona Chakravarty, CEO Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Addressing the gathering, Akhilesh highlighted achievements of his government and said the state government had honoured personalities from every field and acknowledge their achievements.