In any case, it is the end of our tenure and I have fulfilled my responsibilities as a Cabinet Minister.
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“A man is out to destroy the party and he is taking undue advantage of the simplicity of Netaji”, Ram Gopal Yadav said. In a moment of candour he also admitted that probably a mistake had been committed in removing Akhilesh as the party’s state unit president. If I have taken any decision, it is on his directive. He said he will talk Mulayam before deciding his future course of action. Whenever I want, I talk with him.
Before that, Akhilesh Yadav sacked tainted Gyatri Prasad Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh from the Cabinet this Monday because Allahabad High Court rejected the plea to withdraw the CBI probe.
“He has been made CM by the organisation and as such that is acceptable to me”.
He added that he would accept the decision of the party chief. It is his right. It is election time and we have to form the government again in 2017. His uncle Shivpal has been appointed the party chief, an important post since elections are near.
Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal said “if there is any outsider, who is interfering, he should stop immediately” and asserted that Akhilesh will be the chief ministerial candidate of Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Backroom parleys were initiated as Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is caught between his son and brother, stepped in to defuse the crisis, meeting Shivpal, whose key portfolios were taken away by the chief minister that triggered the face-off.
“He (Chief Minister) should have been asked to resign and he would have tendered it”. It was the kind of interview where a ruling party leader bares all secrets, to the extent possible, about the internal strife within the Yadav clan. There is nothing like that. “We all are happy.there are no differences”, he had said. The CM’s decision is also his.
When asked about Ram Gopal’s statement that he was made party state incharge though there was no provision in the party for the same, Shivpal said, “The party president can take any decision. But there is a general perception in party workers, leaders and people about this”.
Some party leaders, meanwhile, blamed “outsider” Amar Singh for the political crisis.
“If everyone becomes intelligent, all of them will be CM or netaji. He is coming to Lucknow tomorrow or day after tomorrow”.
He swallowed his pride, put up with the slights and soldiered on, out of respect for his father, whether it was on the question of reinducting Amar Singh into the party or sending him to the Rajya Sabha.
As soon as he reached Lucknow, Mulayam had summoned Shivpal, who is at loggerheads with Akhilesh, and held closed door meeting with him to defuse the situation.
“You also know this”. Those who have nothing to do with party’s interest take benefit of simplicty of netaji.
Party strategists were, however, disappointed that repeated appeals from the dais after Rahul’s meeting didn’t stop farmers from carrying home the cots they had sat on, repeating a scene witnessed on September 6 in Deoria, where the Congress vice-president had kicked off his 2,500km kisan yatra. “All those who met me are saying so”, Ram Gopal said.
Singh, who was expelled from the party in 2010, rejoined the SP recently. There is no such post in SP. A month later Mulayam Singh Yadav made him relent on the issue. “It was to be complied”.
Things have not been too smooth between Akhilesh and Shivpal for quite some time now.
“After netaji and CM will meet, all will be fine”.
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“Whatever netaji will indicate will take place”.
