SP family feud set to escalate again

With SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and party supremo Akhilesh Yadav convening separate meetings of the newly elected party legislators, the feud within the family is set to flare up again. Incidentally, both leaders have convened meetings to decide the name of the leader of the party in the state Assembly, who will also be the leader of the Opposition. While Akhilesh has called the meeting on Tuesday, his father Mulayam will meet the MLAs the following day.

With two separate meetings to discuss the same issue, SP leaders apprehend they may appoint different leaders also. SP sources said the Akhilesh camp wanted senior leader Ram Govind Chaudhary or firebrand Muslim leader Azam Khan as leader of the Opposition, while the Mulayam faction sought to appoint former state SP unit chief Shivpal Singh Yadav for the post.

Mulayam and Shivpal had also not attended the SP national executive on Saturday to discuss the reasons behind the party’s humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections. But, according to sources, they were not invited for the convention.  Akhilesh had then said the party would elect its national president before September 30.

“Mulayam now wants to take over the party... the results have proved that Akhilesh lacks experience. The party will find it difficult to revive itself in the state without Mulayam and Shivpal... both of them have long experience and they have good organisational capabilities also,” a senior SP leader said on Monday.

Though some senior party leaders are advocating for a compromise, Akhilesh’s veiled attack on Shivpal at the national executive meet had not gone down well with him. “My own people betrayed me in the polls,” Akhilesh had remarked.