Lucknow, April 1: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav today targeted his son Akhilesh Yadav, accusing the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister of "ditching the family" and leaving insiders baffled by his latest outburst.

"Narendra Modi and his BJP could win in the (recent) Assembly polls because of the feud in my family," Mulayam said in Mainpuri on his first visit to his stronghold since the Samajwadi's humiliating defeat in the February-March elections.

"Modi got an opportunity during the election campaign to say that how can a son be good to the people if he doesn't care about his father," Mulayam added.

Akhilesh had replaced Mulayam as the Samajwadi's national president at a party convention on January 1 this year, months after a simmering feud within the state's then ruling family had boiled to the surface.

In September last year, Mulayam had replaced his son with his younger brother Shivpal Yadav as state president of the party. Akhilesh had hit back, removing Shivpal from the post of minister for public works, irrigation and revenue.

According to some Samajwadi sources, the tussle for power was a drama scripted by Mulayam to help his son.

But Mulayam - MP from Azamgarh who resigned from Mainpuri, the other seat he won in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections - today said he had never faced such humiliation in his life. "Nobody had insulted me before like this," he said.

"Akhilesh didn't meet me even for five minutes in the last five years. I remained silent when he ditched us. He also removed his uncle from all posts. All these factors went against the party," he added, speaking after inaugurating a hotel.

The BJP-led alliance won over 300 seats in the 403-member House, handing the Samajwadi-Congress alliance a crushing defeat.

A Samajwadi leader said it was difficult to figure out if the 77-year-old leader's comments had anything to do with age or were part of a strategy.

"We are unable to understand his mood. He and Akhilesh opted to sit on the dais with BJP leaders during the swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister on March 19. He also whispered in Modi's ear to teach politics to his son. And today he is targeting Akhilesh. I don't know whether it is old age or a strategy of Mulayam," the leader, who didn't want to be named, added.

At the end of the March 19 ceremony, Mulayam had walked up to Prime Minister Modi and whispered something in his ear. A senior BJP politician who was standing close to them had told The Telegraph that Mulayam apparently requested Modi to take care of Akhilesh and teach him politics.

A Samajwadi source claimed that Mulayam was desperate to take over the party. "Akhilesh had said he would return the post of SP national president to Mulayam after three months," the source said. "This deadline expired on March 31."