Netaji left with no option but to witness SP's decline: Kalraj Mishra

Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra on Tuesday taunted the ongoing internal feud within the Samajwadi Party, adding veteran leader Mulayam Singh Yadav is at the moment left with no option but to witness his party's decline.

Mishra said the senior and experienced leader Mulayam was confident that his party would work as a collective unit but now the situation is such that nobody hesitates to speak in front of him as a result of which his party is gradually losing its grip in the state.

The Union Minister alleged that the infighting within the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh is for the Samajwadi Party's stability.

"If I say the fight is of anger, money and power then it won't be correct. If this fight was for the people then it would have been great. This fight is not for the people but for their own (Samajwadi Party's) stability," Mishra told ANI.

"The law and order situation was already on the decline. But now, the administrative chaos is increasing and the result is that the common people of the state are considering themselves unsafe," he added.

Meanwhile, Mulayam broke his silence on the massive family feud plaguing the Samajwadi Party and strongly defended his aide Amar Singh from the onslaught by expelled leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

Addressing the media in a much awaited press conference in Lucknow with his brother and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's bete noire Shivpal Yadav by his side, Mulayam started off with the firm assertion that there is not rift within the Yadav family, adding all Samajwadi Party leaders stand united.

Asserting that he stood with his son Akhilesh, who was visibly absent from the meeting, the Samajwadi Party supremo added that the chief ministerial candidate for 2017 assembly polls would be announced after the party's victory in next year's elections.

The family feud in the Samajwadi Party spilled out in the open on Monday as members of the ruling Yadav clan engaged in emotional outbursts, exchanging barbs and allegations, even as their supporters clashed on the streets.

A meeting at the party office of MLAs, MLCs, MPs, and the party leaders early in the day ended in chaos as leaders stormed out.