Samajwadi Party national general secretary Ramgopal, who met Akhilesh in Lucknow, said the leadership had committed an unintentional “mistake” by removing Akhilesh as the party’s UP president.
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On Tuesday, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav stripped Shivpal, his uncle, of important ministerial portfolios, hours after Mulayam Singh replaced Akhilesh with Shivpal as the party’s UP chief.
In a tit-for-tat action, Mulayam took away the post of UP Samajwadi Party chief from his son Akhilesh, perhaps to pacify Shivpal.
But he refused to reveal what transpired between him and Akhilesh Yadav, saying he would first brief Mulayam Singh. There are all kinds of people in a party. It is election time and we have to form the government again in 2017.
After meeting the Chief Minister, Ram Gopal said “everything will be resolved once netaji (Mulayam) and CM will talk.”. Whenever I sought an appointment with Chief Minister Akhilesh, I got it.
“Let the chief minister run the government”.
Asked if the “outsider” being blamed for the party crisis was Rajya Sabha Samajwadi Party member Amar Singh, Shivpal Yadav said: “Our power will strengthen by uniting, not breaking”. He also resigned as the party’s state unit president, a post to which he was appointed just two days ago, a senior party source said. Moreover, hours after Amar Singh had met Mulayam Singh in Delhi, Akhilesh Yadav’s was removed as State head. He could have been told you are the CM, he (Shivpal Yadav) will perform the duties of the president. Singh, an old associate of Mulayam, who is close to Shivpal, has denied any interference on his part. “Netaji took that decision carefully and after consideration surely”, Shivpal said. Akhilesh reportedly said: “Aap chacha hain”. The youngest scion of the Yadav clan and the present CM of the most populous state of the country Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday, 14 September 2016, canceled official engagements.
It took Akhilesh two months to muster up courage and surprise all and sundry by giving marching orders to Singhal, who had already caused him much embarrassment in various ways. The chief minister asserted his authority by divesting Shivpal of key portfolios, sacking Deepak Singhal as chief secretary and axing mining minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh, the panchayati raj minister.
The SP patron however is of the view that while Akhilesh Yadav has done well as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh but that alone is not enough to win back power.
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Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, Shivpal said he was ready for “any and all sacrifices for the party” but added that for him Mulayam’s word was final and that he was the party boss and the family patriarch. With the state assembly elections round the corner, this fallout between these two big leaders may prove unfortunate for the party, and could also give other political parties an edge over the Samajwadi Party.
