Akhilesh Yadav expels Shivpal loyalists from party

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav expelled a host of district level leaders, including two Shivpal loyalists Mohd. Shahid and Deepak Misra on Sunday.

Both of them were party spokespersons, and the most visible faces of the Samajwadi Party on television channels in Uttar Pradesh. Mohd. Shahid said that he was never a member of the “so-called Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav” so his expulsion was meaningless. “I am with Mulayam Singh Yadav and will remain with him till the day he disassociates himself from the party”, he said. Mr Misra said that Mr Yadav had turned the party into a joke by betraying the ideology of its ideologues. “The party is now moving from socialism to capitalism,” he said.

I will continue to work on socialist principles,” he said in a statement.