JOIN USAmar Singh faces Akhilesh's wrath
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that there cannot be any patch-up until Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh stopped interfering in the party and family affairs.
On Monday, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav convened a meeting to resolve the crisis. Akhilesh claimed that a few months ago Singh had tweeted that there would be a big political development in Uttar Pradesh in October.
“Amar Singh said that ‘Akhilesh will not be chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in November’,” Akhilesh said, adding, “I cannot tolerate any interference in the party affairs or governance of the my state by Amar Singh.”
Akhilesh also claimed that it was Singh, who in collusion with some leaders, had got a report published in an English daily, in which he (Akhilesh) was called Aurangzeb and Mulayam Shah Jahan.
Akhilesh had on an earlier occasion said that some “outsider” was creating trouble within the party. “How can the party function if people outside the family also interfere?” the chief minister said.
Singh’s bete noire and senior minister Azam Khan also attacked him for meddling in the affairs of Mulayam’s family. “Only one person (Amar Singh) is responsible for the family feud... many leaders had indicated that such a situation might arise,” Khan said.
Mulayam, for his part, sprung to Singh’s defence, saying he had saved him from going to jail. “Amar helped me on several occasions and you (Akhilesh) are abusing him,” Mulayam said.
Similarly, Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav also defended Singh and said that everyone
A roadblock in SP’s alliance plans
SP leader Amar Singh has become a stumbling block for a grand alliance between Mulayam Singh Yadav and other secular parties, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
According to senior JD(U) leaders, it would be difficult to work with a person who has no “political conviction”.
Party leaders confirmed that SP leaders are in touch with them. They said that SP chief Mulayam has already expressed his regret in public over his decision to desert a Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) just before the Bihar Assembly elections.
JD(U) leaders quoted Uttar Pradesh party president Shivpal Yadav’s statement on the expulsion of MP Ramgopal Yadav from the party. Yadav had said that the MP was behind breaking the grand alliance because of his personal compulsions in helping the BJP.
Saifai stunned by developments
A stunned silence prevailed at Mulayam’s native village of Saifai in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district, DHNS reports from Lucknow.
Similar was the atmosphere at SP offices in the Mulayam strongholds of Mainpuri, Etawah and some other districts, with party leaders remaining tight lipped about the ongoing feud within the family.
Several leaders hailing from rival camps had reached Lucknow on Sunday, after the sacking of Shivpal Singh Yadav and three other ministers.
People at Saifai remained glued to their TV sets to get the updates of the developments in the state capital.
The sacking of Shivpal and expulsion of Ram Gopal, however, came as a shock. “It is difficult to believe that these two important members of Mulayam’s political family have received such treatment,” said an SP leader from Etawah.
He, however, admitted that the feud had created sharp divisions within the party and it would require a herculean effort from the top leadership to bridge the divide.