Even, Samajwadi Party national general secretary Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, who was instrumental in drenching the fire within the party and the family as well and said the leadership had committed an unintentional “mistake” by removing Akhilesh as party’s UP president.
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The appointment was made in a hand-written note on Mulayams letterhead, said reports.
The letter issued on Tuesday indicates that Mulayam’s son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav, Mulayam’s cousin, stand sidelined. Mr Singh is seen as backing Shivpal Yadav, though he has asserted that Akhilesh Yadav is “like my son”. The letter was signed by Mulayam on his Lok Sabha letter head and was sent to media from state SP chief Shivpal Yadav’s official e-mail id.
Even as the nascent truce in Samajwadi Party appeared to be in shreds with expulsion of his associates, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday put up a courageous face saying “Samajwadi Pariwar” is united to face all challenges.
On Saturday, the CM restored all but one portfolios of Shivpal Yadav and promised to support him as Samajwadi Party’s state president, a post from which he was himself removed three days ago.
Once the public face of the party, Singh was seen as Mulayam’s closest aide.
Amar Singh and Jaya Prada were expelled from Samajwadi Party in 2010.
More than six years after it expelled Amar, the Samajwadi Party made him its Rajya Sabha candidate a few months back, setting the stage for his return to the party. These youth leaders had played significant roles in the success of his Rath Yatra taken out across the state before the 2012 Assembly polls and were expected to get responsibilities in Samajwadi Vikas Yatra that Akhilesh has announced to take out before the 2017 polls.
Singh had joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Fatehpur Sikri but lost. Chief Minister had also said that he would never address Amar Singh as “uncle” any more.
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Interestingly, during the feud between Mulayam’s brother Shivpal and son Akhilesh, Singh was seen as the one who had engineered it. The decision is not likely to go down well with either Ram Gopal Yadav or senior minister Mohammad Azam Khan, as both of them have been rather vocal about their opposition to Amar Singh. Akhilesh, who was flanked by Shivpal, was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by him.
