The internecine war now raging within the Samajwadi Party is essentially a battle for Mulayam Singh Yadav’s political legacy between his son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and the SP supremo’s younger brother Shivpal Yadav. Supporters of Shivpal who were shouting anti-Akhilesh slogans and threatened to go on fast and even indulge in self-immolation, said that it was, in fact, Ram Gopal Yadav who was behind the conspiracy to upstage the former minister.
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On Thursday, party general secretary Ram Gopal, who is considered to be close to Akhilesh, said the party had committed an unintentional mistake by removing Akhilesh as state unit’s chief.
Aditya is an elected chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation while Sarla Yadav is chairperson of the Etawah Cooperative Federation. Amar Singh denies involvement, calling Akhilesh like his son. “He should have the final say in ticket distribution and selecting candidates”. Like Akhilesh, neither Ramgopal Yadav nor senior minister Azam Khan share a friendly equation with Amar Singh. As soon as he reached here, Mulayam summoned Shivpal, who is at loggerheads with Akhilesh, and held closed door meeting with him to defuse the situation. It is believed that Akhilesh had humiliated uncle Shivpal by stripping him of key portfolios in the state government.
Shivpal today handed his resignation from the government to Akhilesh while submitting the letter relinquishing the party post to Mulayam, the party’s supreme leader.
The latest straw was the appointment of the controversial and loudmouthed Deepak Singhal as the chief secretary of the state.
On September 13, Mulayam removed Akhilesh from the post of the party’s state chief and named Shivpal in his place. The chief minister sacked the two ministers but later the feedback of Amar Singh was found “baseless”.
“Allocation of portfolios is a chief minister’s prerogative, won’t challenge his decision”, media reports quoted Shivpal as saying at a press briefing.
Bajpai also taunted Akhilesh’s assertion that there was a rift in the family but a political dispute.
“Let the chief minister run the government”. He however cautioned that “Mulayam’s decision dare not be challenged in the party”.
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Shivpal, however, made it clear that he will continue to follow Mulayam’s orders. There have been speculation that Shivpal wants Mulayam to take over the CM post. He did not name the person but the signal was enough for the party leaders to mutter: “Amar Singh”, the businessman who was seen by the old guard in the party like the late Mohan Singh as being singularly responsible for creating fissures and weakening the UP party.
