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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Akhilesh Yadav sacks Shivpal Yadav from UP cabinet as family feud intensifies
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Akhilesh Yadav sacks Shivpal Yadav from UP cabinet as family feud intensifies

Essence of battle between Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav is who will lead assembly poll campaign and run party in future, senior party leaders say

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. File photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. File photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: The ongoing succession battle in the Samajwadi Party (SP) took a dramatic turn on Sunday when chief minister Akhilesh Yadav sacked four ministers, including his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who is also the chief of SP in Uttar Pradesh.

Senior party leaders point out that it is no longer a fight between party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief-minister son. The essence of the battle is which of the two leaders will run the party in the future and who will lead the campaign for the assembly election in 2017.

“The sacking of Shivpal Yadav by Akhilesh Yadav is an open challenge by the chief minister to Mulayam Singh. The fight is no longer about the chief ministerial candidate, but about who will run the party and take decisions for assembly elections," said a senior SP leader based in Lucknow.

The crisis further deepened when senior party leader and Mulayam Singh’s brother Ram Gopal Yadav, who has been batting for Akhilesh Yadav since the feud first became public, was expelled from the party and the post of national general secretary for six years.

“Ram Gopal Yadav has been colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party to escape a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into corruption charges against his family. He has been misusing Netaji’s (Mulayam Singh’s) name for his personal gains. However, the chief minister hasn’t understood this conspiracy," said Shivpal Yadav.

Responding to his expulsion from the party, Ram Gopal Yadav said he will continue to support Akhilesh Yadav.

“Netaji is not only my elder brother but political guru as well. He is surrounded by evil forces, but will soon realize what the truth is. I will continue supporting Akhilesh even if I am not a part of SP," he said in a letter.

Earlier in the day, Ram Gopal Yadav had written a one-page letter to party workers saying the future of SP lay with Akhilesh Yadav.

“People who are opposing Akhilesh will not be able to see the face of the state Vidhan Sabha. Victory is where Akhilesh is," he wrote in the letter.

Despite the showdown with his father, Akhilesh Yadav made it clear that he will not leave the party, according to a senior minister.

“I will remain in the party and will keep strengthening it," Rajendra Chaudhary cited Akhilesh as saying at a meeting of SP legislators at his residence.

The chief minister also said he would attend all programmes organized by the party on 5 November to celebrate the party’s silver jubilee, Chaudhary said in a press release.

Members of the SP leadership say that the question on leadership will be answered on Monday when members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) will meet Mulayam Singh.

“A lot will become clear when MLAs will meet Mulayam Singh Yadav. It will be interesting to see how many MLAs choose to go and meet him. Although there is no clear message to MLAs making it mandatory for them to attend this meeting, it will give a clear picture on how many SP MLAs are with Mulayam Singh Yadav," said the senior leader quoted above.

The SP has a total of 229 MLAs in the 403-member assembly, and it is still unclear how many of them support the party chief and how many will opt to go with the chief minister.

Akhilesh Yadav called a meeting of party legislators on Sunday at his residence in Lucknow, but Shivpal Yadav was not invited.

The decision to sack Shivpal Yadav and his three supporters from the council of ministers was taken at the meeting.

This is the second time action has been taken against Shivpal Yadav by Akhilesh Yadav. On 13 September, the chief minister had taken away three key ministerial portfolios from Shivpal Yadav, hours after party chief Mulayam Singh appointed him the party’s state president, replacing Akhilesh Yadav. Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima are the other three ministers who were sacked from the council of ministers on Sunday and all three leaders owe allegiance to Shivpal Yadav.

The name of senior leader and the party’s Rajya Sabha member, Amar Singh, who was held responsible for fuelling the family feud by senior party leaders in September, has come up in the latest round of the feud.

“The chief minister made it clear in the meeting that whoever is close to Amar Singh cannot be in his cabinet," said Raju Yadav, the SP legislator from Mainpuri.

Analysts point to an imminent split in the party if a compromise is not reached soon. “With the name of Amar Singh coming up time and again, a patch-up can be reached if he is removed from the party. If not, the deepening rift only signals an imminent split in the party," said S.K Dwivedi, a Lucknow-based political analyst and professor of political science at Lucknow University

PTI also contributed to the story.

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Published: 23 Oct 2016, 01:20 PM IST
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