JOIN USMulayam tells Akhilesh not to break party
Realising that the Samajwadi Party (SP) was heading for a vertical split, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday made an emotional appeal to his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to not break the party.
“I have given you everything I had. I am left with nothing but the love and affection of the party workers and the people. Don’t break the party,” an emotional Mulayam said while addressing SP workers here.
Blaming his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav for trying to break the party, Mulayam asked Akhilesh to “keep away” from the disputes and break himself free from Ram Gopal.
“Ram Gopal wants to form a separate outfit, called Bhartiya Samajwadi Party, and is seeking ‘motorcycle’ as its election symbol,” the SP leader claimed.
He said that he had “sweated” to build the party and would not allow it to break. “I will not let the party split. Both the party and the symbol will remain the same,” he added.
Mulayam claimed that Ram Gopal was under the “influence” of his son and daughter-in-law. “Ram Gopal met the national president of a party four times. I would have saved his son and daughter-in-law if he had approached me,” he said without elaborating.
Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav had earlier said that Ram Gopal “feared” that his son and daughter-in-law might face a CBI probe in a case, and therefore wants to split the SP in order to help the BJP.
Mulayam said that he was ready to give Akhilesh in writing that he would be the chief minister. “But he must distance himself from Ram Gopal,” he added.
Mulayam showered praise on his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and said that he, too, had made huge sacrifices for the party.
The SP supremo had a long meeting with Akhilesh on Tuesday, in which he offered to declare Akhilesh the SP’s chief ministerial face. Mulayam had also asked Akhilesh to relinquish the post of the national president of the party.
RLSP tries to forge alliance
The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), an NDA ally, which has decided to contest the Uttar Pradesh polls separately, is trying to consolidate the most backward castes by roping in smaller parties, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
The RLSP is reaching out to Jan Adhikar Manch, whose leader and former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha had made a botched attempt to join the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The RLSP is also trying to reach out to the Peace Party, Mahan Dal and Samata Dal.