JOIN USMulayam and Akhilesh may go separate ways
With no solution in sight, Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav are preparing to slug it out in the upcoming electoral battle in the state.
According to the leaders close to Mulayam, Chief Minister Akhilesh was not ready to “bend even a little bit” to concede his father’s demands, which included relinquishing the post of the national president of the party.
On the other hand, the Akhilesh group maintained that the rival faction was not ready to “throw out” SP Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and hand over the authority of selection of nominees to Akhilesh.
On Saturday, too, there were several rounds of meetings between senior SP leaders, including minister Azam Khan and Mulayam, but no compromise could be reached.
Khan and Shivpal also held several rounds of discussions with Mulayam here to find a solution to the crisis, but in vain.
Sources said that Khan was likely to side with Mulayam in the event of a split in the party. “Azam Khan has promised Mulayam that he will be with the party patriarch in case of a split,” said a leader close to Khan here.
The patch-up efforts launched by the elders of the Yadav family, who had descended on the state capital from their native village of Saifai to broker a truce, had failed to yield any positive results. Sources close to Akhilesh said that he was preparing to go it alone in the polls and might announce his list of nominees in the next few days. The Mulayam group also indicated on Saturday that its list of candidates was almost ready and could be declared shortly.
Sources said that both Mulayam and Shivpal might leave for Delhi on Sunday to the meet Election Commission (EC) officials to hand over “some important documents” in support of their claim over ‘cycle’, the party’s election symbol.
SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav was also scheduled to meet EC officials on Saturday, sources here said.
Akhilesh camp bullish over ‘cycle’
The faction of the Samajwadi Party (SP) led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday presented the affidavits of party delegates to the Election Commission (EC) to stake claim to the cycle symbol, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav met the EC and gave affidavits of 4,716 delegates, including MLAs, MPs, gram panchayat members, municipal corporation counsellors and representatives of its national convention. The party has 5,731 delegates in total. “This is an overwhelming majority... Over 90% of the SP is led by Akhilesh,” Ram Gopal told journalists after his meeting with the EC.