Shivpal meets Akhilesh; the two jointly meet Mulayam later

Hours after branding nephew Akhilesh Yadav a liar, UP Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Yadav made a dramatic appearance at the Chief Minister's residence tonight, in an apparent attempt at rapprochement.

What exactly transpired between the nephew-uncle duo could not be known immediately as there was no word from them or their aides.

Party observers said the meeting could have been at the behest of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had earlier in the day wished that Akhilesh and Shivpal transcended all differences and hugged each other at a key SP meeting at the party headquarters here this morning.

Both of them later drove in the same car to see Mulayam who retired for the day amid reports that he was having a severe toothache.

The all-important meeting convened by Mulayam to bring warring factions together on one dais turned ugly when Shivpal snatched the microphone from the Chief Minister and called him a liar.

After the party supremo asked his son to hug his uncle to bury the hatchet and send a message that all was well in the party, Akhilesh took up the matter of his being referred to as Aurangzeb in an English newspaper.

While Akhilesh was referring to the report in which he was branded as ruthless Mughal emperor Aurangzeb as part of a "conspiracy" and took the name of MLC Ashu Malik to support his claim, Shivpal emerged from behind, snatched his mike and remarked, "CM is telling a lie...I will also speak" bringing the meeting to an abrupt end.

Later, clarifying as to how the scene turned ugly, Malik said he was being called by the chief minister on the dais to tell Mulayam Singh Yadav the truth behind the story published in the newspaper last month.

"It is half truth which led the supporters to create acrimony...I was called by the Chief Minister to tell how I had sent a notice to the newspaper over the issue for which they (newspersons) said they were tipped off by someone in Delhi after which a corrigendum was also published the next day," Malik said.

"But before I could say anything, things turned bad," he said, adding he was manhandled by some partymen at the Chief Minister's residence earlier this morning.