SP war boils over, Akhilesh camp declares him party chief; 'sacks' Shivpal

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Sunday anointed the Samajwadi Party’s national president at a convention presided over by Ramgopal Yadav.

In a speech, Ramgopal Yadav said that Shivpal Yadav had been misleading Mulayam while making wrong decisions.

Consequently, Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh were both 'expelled' from the party at the national executive.

“This National Executive unanimously elects Akhilesh Yadav ji as the national president of Samajwadi Party,” Ramgopal Yadav said.

The wounds in the Samajwadi Party (SP) appeared to split open again on Sunday, with party chief Mulayam Singh shooting off a letter to party workers asking them not to attend the national executive meeting called his by cousin Ramgopal Yadav.

According to reports, Singh also warned of ‘strict action’ against those attending the convention, and added that it was unconstitutional.

However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was first expelled and then taken back into the SP by his father Mulayam, was in attendance at the meeting.

The supporters of Akhilesh Yadav are confident that he would be anointed as the national president or executive national president of Samajwadi Party in the convention.

Youth party leader Arvind Giri has claimed that the convention would discuss proposals for appointment of Akhilesh as the national president, removal of Shivpal Yadav as the party state chief and removal of tainted candidates from the party list.

Leaders close to Akhilesh made rounds of the Janeshwar Mishra Park, the venue of emergency convention in the state capital, to check the preparations till late last night where seating arrangement for more than fifty thousand persons has been made.

However, just on Saturday night, Akhilesh, after being reinducted into SP, had told supporters that they must ‘save the party’ and that ‘Mulayam Singh is your leader, but he is both my leader and my father’.