I'm still SP boss, asserts Mulayam

Though the open fight in the Samajwadi Party has fizzled out to some extent, a truce remains elusive.

Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav declared on Sunday that he is the national president, Shivpal Yadav, his younger brother, state chief and Akhilesh Yadav chief minister.

Mulayam will meet the Election Commission on Monday to dispute the claim made on behalf of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the party and its symbol — the cycle.

Addressing a press conference at his Ashoka Road residence here in the evening, Mulayam said his cousin Ram Gopal was expelled as party general secretary on December 30, and hence had no authority to call a convention of the party.

Mulayam, however, refused to elaborate. Mulayam, flanked by senior leader Amar Singh and Shivpal, refrained from speaking against any leader.

Mulayam accompanied by Shivpal reached the national capital by noon.

Singh, in a separate statement, said he is ready to make a sacrifice to broker peace between father and son. But he made a veiled reference to Ram Gopal, saying “some people do not want peace”.

Ram Gopal, for his part, asserted that the convention was legal and it chose netaji (Mulayam) as patron of the party and Akhilesh as the national president.

He claimed that people around netaji has misled him that the party was with him. Earlier in the day, Singh revealed to the media Mulayam’s strategy. He claimed that the signatures of MLAs submitted to the Election Commission were forged.

He also said that the party convention, which elected Akhilesh, was illegal and Mulayam is the president of the party.“We will submit our memorandum to the Election Commission on Monday. We will give the list of office-bearers who were elected before January 1, 2017,” Singh said.