Clearly bearing the stamp of Mulayam and Shivpal, the list includes Sigbatullah Ansari and Atiq Ahmed who faces over 40 criminal cases including of murder and attempt to murder.
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Naresh Agrawal said, “We have accepted Netaji as our mardarshak and we respect him”. Much of the party leader at the meeting were called by Akhilesh Yadav who cheered and raised slogans for Akhilesh.
As for the Congress, its demand is well above the 90 seats left by the chief minister for prospective allies.
As all the resolutions received unanimous support, Ramgopal announced Akhilesh’s name as the party’s chairman – precipitating the biggest crisis in the ongoing family feud since September previous year. Akhilesh is not going shopping for a new party symbol or name, sources indicated. But as the party stands today, Mulayam himself is responsible for shaking the very foundations of the SP which, for him, is apparently not an entity beyond his family. The chief minister was quoted as saying that he had separated from the party but not his father. Mulayam had expelled the two for “indiscipline” on Friday evening. He sacked Ram Gopal for the second time from the party for 6 years and announced his own conclave on 5 January. “He also ceases to be a primary member of the party”, the letter stated.
“State unit president gave tickets to those who were not even member of the party.did not want SP return to power and that Akhilesh become the next CM.”, he said. Akhilesh had hit back by dismissing Shivpal and a few others from his ministry.
Just before the programme, he had issued a statement that he has called a meeting of the party Assembly candidates on Saturday where he will discuss party issue with his supporters.
Nanda also accused some people of “conspiring” against the party by confusing Mulayam, and said it was all the more necessary hence to make Akhilesh party president.
In August this year Shivpal had threatened to resign from the party.
The Chief Minister also struck off the names of seniors like Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima – all of whom are in the Shivpal camp. “I was with him when he established the party”.
Earlier in the day, SP general secretary Amar Singh, in a video released from London, had said that he is not behind the feud between the father and son.
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The meeting, which was not attended by Mulayam Singh Yadav, passed the resolution appointing Akhilesh Yadav as the new party chief while Mulayam Singh would play the role of the party’s “mentor”.
