Shivpal Singh Yadav supporters stage protest at Etawah

Support for senior SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, who resigned as the party's state unit head and cabinet minister amid a family feud, on Friday spilled onto the streets here as his supporters sat on dharna.

Raising slogans like "Shivpal Singh ko sasamman vapas lo" and "Mulayam Singh ko CM banao", the veteran leader's supporters set up a tent at the Shastri crossing and have been agitating since last night.

Shivpal had submitted his resignation from the two posts to party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, while his wife Sarla resigned from the post of District Cooperative Bank Chairperson, Etawah, and son Aditya quit as Chairman of Pradeshik Cooperative Federation.

Markets in Jaswantnagar — the Assembly constituency of Shivpal — also remained closed with a protest against Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav being staged on the roads there.

The demonstration, which obstructed movement of traffic on for hours, was later shifted to the city.

Earlier this morning, Shivpal's supporters gathered at the leader's residence in Lucknow and also raised slogans against party national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav who had on Thursday termed Akhilesh Yadav's removal from the post of state unit president as an "unintentional mistake" of the party.