SP drama: Shouting match as Mulayam turns hard on his son Akhilesh
Acrimony, bitter exchanges and personal attacks today marked a meeting of Samajwadi Party leaders , bringing to the fore the high-voltage power struggle in the first family with Akhilesh Yadav and his
Lucknow, Oct 24: Acrimony, bitter exchanges and personal attacks today marked a meeting of Samajwadi Party leaders , bringing to the fore the high-voltage power struggle in the first family with Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav trading barbs while the chief minister was accused of planning to float a party, a charge he denied.
Cut up with his son, Mulayam Singh Yadav up a strong defence of his brother Shivpal Yadav+ , who was sacked by Akhilesh yesterday from his cabinet, and general Secretary Amar Singh but ruled out replacing the chief minister, who offered to quit.
The
political
drama
was
also
punctuated
by
clashes
between
rival
factions
outside
and
inside
the
venue
and
after
the
abrupt
end
to
the
meeting
of
the
legislators,
MPs
and
ministers.
Seeking
to
put
at
rest
speculation,
Akhilesh
ruled
out
forming
any
new
party
and
offered
to
step
down
if
Mulayam
Singh
Yadav
wanted.
With
his
father
and
uncle
watching,
he
broke
down
while
addressing
the
meeting.
"Let
'netaji'
(
Mulayam)
install
a
chief
minister
who
he
feels
is
honest,"
he
said.
"Why
should
I
form
a
new
party?"
he
posed
in
an
emotionally
choked
voice.
At
the
meeting
Akhilesh
said
all
these
years
he
had
toiled
hard
for
the
welfare
of
the
people.
" Merey pita, merey guru hain (my father is my guru)" he said.
Live SP crisis: SP feud: Shivpal Yadav meets CM Akhilesh Yadav at CM's residence
The
Chief
Minister
said
many
people
were
trying
to
create
divisions
within
his
family
using
various
machinations
and
that
he
had
taught
himself
how
to
oppose
any
wrong
doing.
Tension
was
palpable
much
before
the
meeting
began
with
youth
supporters
of
Akhilesh
mounting
pressure
on
the
leadership
in
support
of
the
chief
minister.
Amid talks that Akhilesh could give a miss to the silver jubilee celebrations of the party, the chief minister said, " Rath be chaley, sthapana diwas be maney (my rath yatra will go on and establishment day of the party will be celebrated)."
Akhilesh will embark on his 'rath yatra'+ on November 3, two days ahead of the silver jubilee event, which gave rise to speculation that he would skip the big show to express his displeasure over the recent developments in the party.
The chief minister said that he had connected with the masses with the help of Samajwadi Pension Yojana.
Tears, temper and tantrums mar Samajwadi Party meet in UP
"People
kept
criticising
me,
but
I
went
ahead
keeping
my
promises
to
them,"
he
said.
An
angry
Akhilesh
targeted
Rajya
Sabha
MP
Amar
Singh
for
the
current
developments
saying
that
he
(Amar)
had
hinted
that
some
"major
changes"
would
take
place
in
October.
At
the
same
time,
the
chief
minister
said
that
if
he
had
said
something
beyond
his
limit,
he
should
be
pardoned.
When his turn came, Mulayam Singh said the party was facing a difficult situation and party members should not fight with each other. But his words had little effect as chaos broke out at the venue and heated words were exchanged on the dais leading to an abrupt end of the meeting.
Both the father and son shouted at each other at the meeting.
"I can't tolerate anything against Amar and Shivpal. Amar saved me from going to jail," Mulayam said admonishing Akhilesh for attacking Amar Singh.
"Amar has helped me a lot. If Amar was not there I would have been in jail, he is like my brother," Mulayam said, describing the Rajya Sabha member as his brother.
Mulayam
said
mere
donning
of
red
cap
(colour
of
SP's
cap)
does
not
make
one
Samajwadi.
"Some
ministers
are
just
sycophants,"
he
added.
"I cannot forget the work done by Shivpal Yadav," he said while describing Shivpal as a mass leader.
"We are facing difficult situation, we should remove our weakness and not fight with each other," Mulayam said.
In the first open attack on his nephew, Shivpal Yadav claimed the chief minister had told him that he would float a new party to contest the upcoming Assembly polls.
He urged his brother to "take over reins of Uttar Pradesh".
Speaking after Akhilesh's denial, Shivpal said, "Recently, I went to meet the CM. He said he would float a party and ally with some parties."
Daggers drawn with the chief minister over a host of issues, Shivpal said he was ready to vouch for it. "I can swear by Gangajal," he said. Referring to his long association with the party and his contributions towards strengthening it, Shivpal told party chief, "Netaji, there is a need for you to take over reins of Uttar Pradesh."
Standing stoutly with Amar Singh, who is being accused of pitting one against the other in the family, he said, "Amar Singh ke charanon ki dhool bhi nahi ho aap log (Worth of all of you is not even one quarter of Amar Singh)".
He said that he had never severed his relations with Amar Singh and shared personal ties with him all through.
Referring to the controversy over the merger of mafia don-turned-MLA Muktar Ansari's QED with the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal said he (Ansari) was never taken into the party and only rumours were spread in this regard.
Shivpal also made a mention of his efforts to garner support of opposition party MLAs to ensure smooth sailing of SP nominees in the recent Rajya Sabha polls.
"Do I have no contribution in government formation... Have my departments not done good work? Even opposition party leaders laud the works... The CM should tell where I have not done enough...despite not being invited, I used to go to CM's house," he said.
At
the
meeting,
Shivpal
and
Akhilesh
traded
charges
at
each
other
on
the
dais.
Amid
the
commotion,
Shivpal
snatched
the
mike
from
the
chief
minister.
PTI