Who Is Aparna Yadav? Daughter-In-Law Of Late UP Leader Mulayam Singh Yadav

Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party founder and three-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, died this morning after weeks in hospital. He was 82. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences on the veteran leader's death, calling 'his Parliamentary interventions insightful and emphasised on national interests.'

One of the top politicians of Uttar Pradesh, he had been away from active politics for a while, with his son Akhilesh leading the party since 2017. For the Samajwadi Party, he remained "Neta-ji" - a term that even his son used for him.

Mulayam Singh Yadav was married twice, with his first wife Malti Devi passing away in 2003 after a prolonged illness. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is their only son. Mulayam Singh's second wife Sadhana Gupta first came under the spotlight in 2007 after the leader filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in connection with his income. This was incidentally the first official confirmation that he had remarried, with the document also listing Prateek Yadav (her child from an earlier marriage) as his son. His younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav (married to Prateek) joined the BJP in January 2022 - ahead of the UP Assembly elections.

Who Is Aparna Yadav?

Aparna Yadav has a Master's degree in International Relations and Politics from Manchester University as well as a degree in singing from Lucknow’s Bhatkhande Music Institute. She has performed at musical events including at Mulayam’s own Saifai Mahotsav and Lucknow Mahotsav. Aparna’s father Arvind Singh Bisht, a former journalist, is an information commissioner.

The outspoken younger daughter-in-law, who identifies herself as a social worker and is a brand ambassador of NGO Harsh, first appeared at a Samajwadi Party function in October 2014, when she sat alongside her husband Prateek during the party’s national convention in Lucknow. In 2017, Aparna contested her first election in as the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance candidate from the Lucknow Cantonment constituency. She lost to BJP candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 33,796 votes.

After joining BJP, several reports quoted Akhilesh Yadav indicating that Mulayam had attempted to stop Aparna from joining the party, but the family had also wished her well. Aparna on her part had asserted that she would "continue to be the bahu of the family".

Suggested Reading: Who Was Sadhna Gupta? Wife Of Late Samajwadi Founder Mulayam Singh Yadav