 "Akhilesh Yadav")
The split in the Samajwadi Party deepened on Thursday, but most key leaders, including Yadav family members like Ram Gopal Yadav and Cabinet minister Azam Khan, came out in support of Akhilesh Yadav, currently involved in a family tussle with his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
Both Khan and Ram Gopal echoed Akhilesh's statement of Wednesday that outsiders were to blame for the fratricidal war in the family. While none have named him directly, the attack was on Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Amar Singh.
Shivpal, who wields significant influence on party cadre, defended Singh, who was expelled from the party in 2010, but was sent to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year against the wishes of Akhilesh. Asked about other SP leaders' "unhappiness" with Singh, Shivpal said, "Taking everyone along makes an organisation stronger. There are all kinds of people in a party. One has to apply one's mind."
While SP's rivals such as the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party counted their prospects in light of these developments, with just six months before the UP Assembly polls, Mulayam reached Lucknow to hold talks with Akhilesh.
Akhilesh had avoided meeting his father during the latter's stay in New Delhi. In Lucknow, Ram Gopal, a cousin of Mulayam's, met Akhilesh and said later it was a mistake to remove Akhilesh as the party's UP president. He said "differences" had arisen because of some "misunderstanding", even as he made a veiled attack on Singh.
Akhilesh had stripped Shivpal of key ministerial portfolios on Monday. Within hours, Mulayam replaced Akhilesh with Shivpal as the state unit chief of the party. The events were sparked by Akhilesh dropping two ministers and sacking his chief secretary, said to be close to Shivpal.
Akhilesh has been concerned about the image of his party going into the polls due in early 2017, and has wanted to distance himself from his uncle's appointees in the bureaucracy as well as Cabinet, because of their unsavoury reputations. He has also resented the proximity that Singh has with Shivpal and their interference in the government. A couple of months back, Akhilesh had prevailed in stalling Shivpal's efforts at merging gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal with the SP.
On Akhilesh's statement about outsiders, Ram Gopal said: "There is a general perception among party workers, leaders and people about this...". Khan, a rival of Singh's, also said the CM's assessment was correct.
The party's Rajya Sabha MP, Naresh Agarwal, said: "if there is any outsider, who is interfering, he should stop immediately", and asserted that Akhilesh will be the chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming polls.
After his meeting with Akhilesh, Ram Gopal said: "Everything will be resolved once netaji (Mulayam) and CM talk..." On Wednesday, Shivpal met Mulayam for four hours in Delhi.
BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday advised Mulayam to quit politics in the interest of the state and its people. She termed the Yadav family war a diversionary tactic to distract people from the poor performance of the state government.
