SP founder and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has passed away.

The 82-year-old was undergoing prolonged treatment at Gurugram's Medanta Hospital and was on "life-saving drugs."

His death was confirmed by party chief and Yadav's son Akhilesh on Twitter on Monday.

The SP patriarch, a three-time UP chief minister, was a member of Lok Sabha representing Azamgarh constituency of Uttar Pradesh. 

He first became UP's chief minister in 1989, and founded the Samajwadi Party in 1992, thereby turning it into a giant regional political party.

He also served as the defence minister in the United Front government from 1996 to 1998.

A wrestler-turned-politician, Mulayam was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village, Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh.

He was motivated by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia's socialist ideas and beliefs, which paved his entry into politics.

He was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1967 as a Samyukt Socialist Party (SSP) candidate.

He later joined Chaudhary Charan Singh's Bharatiya Kranti Dal and then the Janata Party. He was a cooperative and animal husbandry minister in the Ram Naresh Yadav government in the late 1970s. He later joined the Lok Dal and was elected to the state Legislative Council as its candidate and also became the Opposition leader.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the passing away of Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji was a remarkable personality. He was widely admired as a humble and grounded leader who was sensitive to people's problems. He served people diligently and devoted his life towards popularising the ideals of Loknayak JP and Dr Lohia," he tweeted.