The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Karhal constituency, SP Singh Baghel, has alleged that Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was “forcefully” brought to campaign for son Akhilesh Yadav, a day before the key constituency in Uttar Pradesh‘s Mainpuri goes to the polls.

“Mulayam Singh Yadav did not come to Karhal willingly,” Baghel, a union minister, was quoted as saying by ANI. Kathal votes in the third phase of the UP elections on Sunday.

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Akhilesh Yadav is contesting his first ever assembly election and has chosen Karhal in home turf Mainpuri. Mulayam Yadav – his father, and the founder of the Samajwadi party which Akhilesh now leads – held his first public gathering in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections on Thursday. The SP founder-patron told a throng in Karhal that the party can “fulfil aspirations” of every resident in the northern state.

Baghel, who is running against the Samajwadi Party’s president in the constituency, claimed on Saturday that “children become elderly parents’ support system,” but that Akhilesh is the “first child who is taking help from his older and ailing father” to avoid defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

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“We will not find any such example in Indian politics,” ANI quoted him.

He claimed that Akhilesh Yadav, the president of the SP is “captain of that ship, which is sinking and he is fleeing from it which is why he now requires the help of former captain (Mulayam) whom he removed from the captainship in 2017″.

The BJP candidate’s remark is the latest in a torrent of attacks launched by both parties in the run-up to the third phase of voting on Sunday.

After the claimed attack on Baghel’s vehicle in Karhal on Tuesday night, the verbal battle escalated.

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Stones and sticks were thrown at the BJP leader’s car, smashing the glass panes, according to his police report.

The attackers, according to Mainpuri Superintendent of Police (SP) Madhuban Singh, were a group of males who appeared from a neighbouring farm field and shouted anti-Baghel slogans.

The BJP sharply condemned the violence, blaming it on Akhilesh’s “SP goons.”

Anurag Thakur, a Union minister, has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and requested that paramilitary personnel be deployed in all Karhal polling booths.

Akhilesh Yadav, on the other hand, has denied any role in the incident, claiming that the BJP is “frustrated” that it is unable to win elections and is “being assaulted.”

Karhal is one of the 59 seats up for election on Sunday. On March 10, the results of the seven-phased UP election will be announced.