Akhilesh seizes' SP; Mulayam calls move illegal, sacks 3 MPs

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav staged an unprecedented political coup on Sunday as thousands of his supporters declared him the Samajwadi Party’s national president, and assigned mentor’s role to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav who hit back with fury, vowing to reestablish his authority.

At an “emergency” convention in Lucknow, about 5,000 supporters — including some 200 of the party’s 229 MLAs, 30 MLCs, besides a clutch of MPs and UP ministers — also “deposed” Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal Yadav as the SP’s UP chief, and “sacked” Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh from the party.

“Sometimes to protect the ones you love you must make the right decision. What I did today was a tough decision but one that I had to take,” the CM tweeted later in the night.

This is the biggest offensive by Akhilesh Yadav who has been fighting his father and uncle with support from his other uncle Ram Gopal Yadav. The Rajya Sabha MP moved the motions, which were promptly endorsed by party leaders and workers with a roar at the sprawling Janeshwar Mishra Park in Lucknow.

In retaliation, Mulayam Singh expelled Ram Gopal Yadav and two more MPs, Naresh Agarwal and Kironmoy Nanda, who attended the meet.  

Left isolated for the first time, the SP patriarch has called a party convention on January 5 in what could be his last-ditch effort to regain control over the party he founded in 1992.

Later in the night, Mulayam Singh complained of high blood pressure, and was examined by doctors. Shivpal Yadav said he and Mulayam Singh would move the Election Commission to retain the party symbol, the bicycle.

Both camps of the Samajwadi parivar have been locked in a bitter feud for greater control of the party, resulting in several tit-for-tat sackings since August.

The family conflict came to a head on Friday when Mulayam Singh expelled his son for releasing a parallel list of candidates for next year’s Assembly elections and Ram Gopal for “weakening the party”. He took them back the next day, but the expulsions had triggered a wave of support for the CM.

Soon after his “anointment”, Akhilesh Yadav, however, said he would respect his father even more now. “Netaji continues to hold the highest position in the party. He would be happy when SP returns to power with a greater majority,” he said in his speech punctuated with slogans of “Jai Akhilesh” from his supporters.

Party vice-president Mr Nanda declared that the SP would contest the elections under Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav is expected to reconstitute top party bodies and allot tickets for the elections, whose schedule will be announced anytime now.

Both factions are preparing to take the battle to the Election Commission to for control over the party symbol, the bicycle. Experts said if the matter reaches the EC, the symbol could be frozen.

Without naming Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh, Akhilesh Yadav said the two had been conspiring against his father, and because of “some people’s machinations”, the party had been steadily losing ground.

This coup a day after a show of strength by the CM when about 200 party legislators of the total 229 in the state Assembly rallied behind him.  

Despite a warning from Mulayam Singh, party veterans, his close associates shared the stage with Akhilesh Yadav.

In the afternoon, slogan-shouting supporters of both factions almost came to blows while trying to take control of the party office in Lucknow. Akhilesh Yadav’s supporters removed Shivpal Yadav’s nameplate outside his room. Shipal Yadav’s photograph and name were removed from the party’s official website which was later shut down.

After the convention, Shivpal Yadav expelled about half a dozen district presidents who had attended the event. Akhilesh Yadav retaliated by withdrawing the security of Mulayam Singh’s loyalist Ashu Malik, and appointed three-time legislator Naresh Uttam as the new state president of the party.

The convention was attended MPs Ram Gopal Yadav, Reoti Raman Singh, Naresh Agarwal , Kironmoy Nanda and UP ministers Arvind Singh Gope, Balram Yadav, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Yasser Shah and Nitin Agarwal. Senior UP minister Mohd Azam Khan, who had brokered peace between vamps on Saturday, was not present.