Fresh twist in Yadav family feud; Shivpal quits as Minister, shuns party post

Lucknow: In a fresh twist to the deepening feud in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family, his brother Shivpal tonight submitted his resignation as ruling Samajwadi Party’s state unit head and as a minister in the cabinet of newphew Akhilesh Yadav with whom he is at loggerheads.

Shivpal submitted his resignation from the two posts to Mulayam who rushed here from Delhi this evening to douse the flames that threaten to hurt the ruling party in the Assembly polls due early next year, sources said.

Shivpal’s wife Sarla also gave resignation from the post of District Cooperative Bank Chairperson, Etawah, and son Aditya gave resignation as Chairman of Pradeshik Cooperative Federation, the sources added.

However, Mulayam reportedly refused to accept the resignations, they said. .

Earlier, as the first family of Uttar Pradesh battled an open war within, Mulayam Singh rushed to Lucknow and met Shivpal and Akhilesh separately to douse the flames.

As soon as he reached here, the SP summoned Shivpal and held closed door meeting with him.

Shivpal later met Akhilesh at his official residence, sources said, adding the meeting came at the behest of Mulayam.

Immediately thereafter, Mulayam met his Chief Minister son Akhilesh, the sources said.

Earlier, Mulayam’s cousin and SP’s national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who is seen as backing the Chief Minister, said the leadership had committed an unintentional “mistake” by removing Akhilesh as party’s UP president.

Ram Gopal, who had met the Chief Minister, said the “differences” had arisen due to some “misunderstanding”.

He blamed “outsiders” for the crisis, an apparent reference to Amar Singh who recently returned to the party after a number of years.

He claimed that “Akhilesh is not angry with anyone and the decision of netaji (Mulayam) is final in the party.”

The same was said by Shivpal at his press conference.

The feud had spilled into the open after the Chief Minister stripped Shivpal of key ministerial portfolios two days back, hours after he was replaced with Shivpal as the party’s state unit chief by his father.

“Differences do take place on some minor point and they can be resolved…. The leadership, though not deliberately, had made a mistake when CM was removed from the post of (state) president (of SP),” Ram Gopal told reporters.

When asked about the Chief Minister’s statement regarding role of “outsiders” in the family tussle, Ram Gopal said, “There is a general perception in party workers, leaders and people about this…”.

Amar Singh, who was expelled from the party in 2010, rejoined the SP recently.

Cabinet Minister Azam Khan also took a swipe at his bete-noir Amar Singh, though he refrained from naming him, and said the Chief Minister was right in his assessment.

“If the Chief Minister is saying it, he must be right as he is in a responsible position. We had such apprehensions and that is why we had strongly opposed the return of such people who had a black history. Their only job is to make recordings and blackmail,” he said.

Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal said “if there is any outsider, who is interfering, he should stop immediately.”

He asserted that Akhilesh will be the Chief Ministerial candidate of Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Targeting Amar Singh without naming him, Ram Gopal said that due to “simplicity” of Mulayam, “those who have nothing to do with party’s interest are able to take benefit”.

“They harm the party…. All those who met me are saying so,” he said.

“He is the same person, who used netaji’s simplicity to make an incharge of the party (Shivpal was earlier made SP UP incharge). There is no such post in SP. They say you are being challenged…..There is no one in the party who can challenge netaji,” Ram Gopal said.

Shivpal, on the other hand, defended Amar Singh saying an organisation is strengthened by taking everyone along.

Asked about other SP leaders’ “unhappiness” with Amar Singh, he said, “Taking everyone along makes an organisation stronger. There are all kinds of people in a party. One has to apply his mind also.”

Amid the opposition to the manner of his appointment as state unit chief, he said, “I was state president in 2011 and now netaji (Mulayam) has once again given me this responsibility. No one has the capacity to disobey what he says.”

His reaction came after Ram Gopal said, “He (Akhilesh) should have been asked to resign and he would have tendered it. 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).” PTI