Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s wife cremated in Lucknow, son performs last rites

LUCKNOW: The cremation of Sadhna Gupta, wife of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, took place at Lucknow’s Pipra Ghat on Sunday. Gupta, who had been ailing for the past several days, had breathed her last at Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital on Saturday..
Her last rites were performed by her son, Prateek Yadav. Gupta was Mulayam’s second wife, who he married in 2003 after the death of his first wife Malti. The 62-year-old had contracted Covid-19 last year and was suffering from severe lung infection at the time of her death. Her body was brought to Lucknow on Saturday night. On Sunday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath called on Mulayam at his residence to pay his condolences. Other senior ministers who visited the former UP chief minister included deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, former deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
Gupta’s body had been kept at Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence on Sunday, before the cremation, for people to pay their respects. Scores of SP members and supporters trooped in through the day to bid her farewell. Mulayam’s eldest son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, his wife and former MP Dimple Yadav, younger brothers Shivpal Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav and other members of the Yadav clan were also present at the residence, and later at the ghat for the final rites.