Earlier, Shivpal Yadav had reportedly announced the party’s first list of 142 candidates for the 2017 polls.
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According to sources, Akhilesh Yadav rejected his resignation from the cabinet. However, it was not confirmed if the resignation was accepted. However, Shivpal Yadav’s popularity in the party with loads of experience means that the uncle-nephew battle will not die soon.
“(Mulayam) is final in the party”.
The SP leader also said “if there is any outsider, who is interfering, he should stop immediately”. Akhilesh had earlier divested Shivpal of all important ministerial portfolios. He blamed the current fiasco on “misunderstandings” and assured it would end in a day or two.
Amar Singh did not respond to calls or a text message from The Indian Express on Thursday.
Sharp differences in the Yadav family came out into the open as the Chief Minister shunted Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal, considered close to Shivpal, barely two months after his appointment, setting off a chain of developments that saw the SP supremo ousting his son as state party chief and replacing him with Shivpal.
Akhilesh Yadav has always been deferential to his father. Like Akhilesh, neither Ramgopal Yadav nor senior minister Azam Khan share a friendly equation with Amar Singh.
Shivpal Yadav, who reached the state capital in the afternoon along with his son Aditya Yadav, was received by hundreds of supporters at the airport. “He could have been told that elections are coming and you continue as CM and the work of state president will be taken care of by him (Shivpal)”.
His reaction came after Ram Gopal said, “He (Akhilesh) should have been asked to resign and he would have tendered it”.
Emerging after a four-hour meeting, Shivpal said: “Neither I nor Netaji (Mulayam) is angry”. The Uttar Pradesh CM was also the state party chief at that time but he was merely informed not consulted on the merger. Later at a press interaction at the VVIP guest house where he is staying, the Rajya Sabha member indirectly hit out at his colleague Amar Singh as the “outsider” who was behind the crisis. 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. He also attacked Amar Singh for his lack of affiliation to the party’s ideology and core values.
The move signalled an attempt by Shivpal to distance himself from his nephew and chief minister Akhilesh with whom he has been involved in a bruising fight for influence.
Earlier in the day Shivpal had ruled out quitting the ministry and said it was immaterial which posts he held as a minister. “Who joins, who leaves, nobody has the right to decide except Netaji”. There have been speculation that Shivpal wants Mulayam to take over the CM post. “After him people are free to do as they wish”, he said.
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However, sources in the party said the episode was a difference of opinion within the family, and there was no threat of a split in the party.
