Akhilesh to take over SP; illegal, says Mulayam as loyalists switch sides

Nearly the entire party, including Mulayam loyalists, have switched sides to Akhilesh

With the succession battle settled in his favour on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday showed he wasn’t just a soft-spoken second-generation dynast but has inherited the toughness of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav which is required to survive in the hurly burly of cow-belt politics.

The succession in the Samajwadi Party was completed in all respects when Akhilesh and his supporters, which included nearly all of the party legislators and senior leaders, passed a resolution at an emergency meeting open to media to dismiss Mulayam as party chief and appointed him a ‘margdarshak’, or mentor. The