The SP chief was addressing the first of the party’s four meetings aimed at chalking out plans for the Lok Sabha election due in 2014. The party’s MLAs and MLCs attended the meeting at chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s official residence in Lucknow.

The former chief minister went on to say: “Some ministers must not be under the false impression that the Samajwadi Party has come to power because of them. The party has come to power because of the workers and the youth who have struggled, and some MLAs who are not ministers. The ministers must learn to respect those people.”

All those MLAs who were not ministers applauded Mulayam’s warning to the ministers.

An MLA present at the meeting said: “We were pleased with the way he warned the ministers.”

Mulayam also said the government was strong because of the majority the people had given it. There should be no excuses in proving  worthy of the trust the people had reposed in the Samajwadi Party, he added.

Despite misinformation by the opposition, the party must not let the people down, he cautioned the partymen.

“Ever since the Samajwadi Party came to power, the people have become all the more observant. The MLAs and ministers must set an example before the public,” he said.

At the same time, he asked the ministers, MLAs and MLCs not to discuss publicly any disagreements within the party.

Praising the government, he said it had restored democracy to the state and given pride of place to development work.

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said development work had failed to gain momentum earlier as the model conduct of code was in force for the local bodies’ election which concluded earlier this month.

Azam Khan, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ahmed Hasan, Ambika Chaudhary and Raghuraj Pratap Singh were among the senior ministers present at the meeting.

The other three meetings are scheduled on August 4, 5 and 6.