Withdraw letter to EC pledging MLA support to you: Mulayam to Akhilesh

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday requested his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to withdraw the letter he had sent to the Election Commission (EC) claiming support of 212 out of 229 MLAs.

In a meeting at his residence, Mulayam also told Akhilesh that he would remain the UP CM if SP came back to power following the polls. However, the SP patriarch added that he still remains the party chief.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Mulayam Singh’s confidante Shivpal Yadav and close aide Amar Singh were not present, said reports.

However, after the 90-minute meeting, Akhilesh left without answering media questions.

In the letter to EC, Akhilesh's uncle Ramgopal Yadav had claimed that 212 of 229 SP MLAs in the UP Assembly, 56 of 68 members of the Legislative Council and 15 of 24 MPs are with the UP CM.

Based on this support, Ramgopal claimed that the Akhilesh faction in the party had the right to use the SP symbol of cycle.

Mulayam had on Monday, in an apparent climbdown, said that Akhilesh would be the Chief Minister if SP came back to power following the Assembly polls in February and March.

The SP supremo, who is involved in a bitter feud with his son Akhilesh and cousin Ramgopal Yadav, had earlier said that he would decide the next Chief Minister of UP if SP emerges victorious in the polls.

On Monday, Mulayam also stated before the Election Commission (EC) that he is still the party’s national chief, and that the affidavits submitted by the Akhilesh faction were “forged.”

During the meeting, the SP supremo also pointed out that while there was a resolution to appoint Akhilesh as the national president, there was “no resolution” to remove him from the post either.

However, he claimed that he had no problems with his son, and that all the problems in the party were being caused by ‘one man’, that is, Ramgopal.

The SP supremo also wrote to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari, informing him about the expulsion of Ramgopal Yadav from the party and as leader of the party in the Upper House. He urged Ansari to shift Ramgopal to the back benches following the expulsion.

In the evening, however, Mulayam while talking to a news agency in Lucknow, said that there was no dispute in the party and that there was no question of any split either.