The ongoing war within the Samajwadi Party (SP) intensified further on Thursday, when party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav removed SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav from the Ram Manohar Lohia Trust.
Ram Gopal has been replaced by senior party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav. Ram Gopal, a close aide of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, was the secretary of the trust.
Neither Akhilesh nor other members of his camp participated in the meeting of the trust, which was held here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Mulayam. Ram Gopal, senior SP leader Azam Khan and Mulayam’s nephew Dharmendra Yadav are also members of the trust, but remained absent from the meeting.
Sources said the party patron could, in the days to come, take a decision about setting up a separate outfit with Shivpal.
Not ready to accomodate
“Akhilesh is not ready to accommodate Shivpal and his loyalists under any circumstances,” a senior leader and Mulayam confidant said.
Akhilesh, according to sources, is all set to be re-elected as the SP president at its national convention at Agra on October 5.
It was, however, not clear if Mulayam would participate in the convention, with sources saying he might boycott the event. It also remains to be seen if Shivpal would be invited.
“I have not yet received the invitation,” Shivpal said on Thursday. Akhilesh and Shivpal had fallen out a few months before the Assembly polls in the state.
The former chief minister had sacked Shivpal from the ministry. Subsequently, the SP infighting intensified, and Akhilesh, at a hurriedly convened party national convention, also ousted Mulayam from the post of national president and replaced his father.
Published 21 September 2017, 11:38 IST