SP pari-war intensifies with tit-for-tat sackings

RIFT WORSENS Akhilesh sacks Shivpal, 3 others; Mulayam ousts Ramgopal from party

LUCKNOW: A vertical split in the Samajwadi Party (SP) looked imminent after the feud in the party intensified with tit-for-tat sackings on Sunday.

In the morning, chief minister Akhilesh dropped his uncle Shivpal, who is also the party’s state chief, and three other “proAmar Singh” ministers from the cabinet. By evening, Mulayam had expelled his cousin and SP general secretary Ramgopal, who has backed Akhilesh in the family feud, from the party for six years.

Governor Ram Naik immediately accepted Akhilesh’s recommendation sacking cabinet ministers Shivpal, Narad Rai and Om Prakash Singh and minister of state Shadab Fatima, who was seen leaving a meeting in tears. They were perceived to be close to the Shivpal-Mulayam duo.

The chief minister said MP Amar Singh was damaging the party and those close to him couldn’t be part of his team, legislator Vijay Mishra told HT.

The CM also removed actorturned-politician Jaya Prada, known to be close to Amar Singh, from the Uttar Pradesh film development council.

Armed with Mulayam’s order, state unit president Shivpal Yadav announced Ramgopal’s sacking at a press conference after having hinted earlier in the day that a person in the family was colluding with the BJP due to fear of the CBI and had met BJP leaders thrice in the past. “Akhilesh ji is not able to comprehend all this,” he claimed.

Shivpal alleged at the press conference, “Ramgopal is doing this to save his son in the Yadav Singh scam and the CM (is) not realising as to who his real wellwisher is. Ramgopal has always conspired and misled Akhilesh.”

“He has been lying and bringing a bad name to the government. He has always harmed and used the party in his self-interest. He is damaging the party and has caused immense pain and anguish to Netaji (Mulayam). He is vitiating the atmosphere. Hence, we as per the order of Netaji, remove him from the post of national general secretary and the party spokesperson’s posts for six years,” Shivpal said.

Before this, while addressing party workers, Shivpal emphasised that the party contested the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls under Mulayam Singh Yadav’s leadership and it would do so again in 2017. His assertion is being interpreted in political circles to mean that Shivpal will remain the party’s state president and Mulayam will be the party’s face instead of Akhilesh.

The day’s developments began with the Ramgopal’s Mumbai datelined open letter to the Akhilesh camp at 6am. The missive attempted to set the tone for the meeting of the ministers, MLAs/MLCs at the chief minister’s official residence at 5 Kalidas Marg.

Ramgopal went on to issue a war cry, calling upon the Akhilesh camp to “sharpen the attack”. He wrote: “We want chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership to see the next government in UP; they want he loses come what may”.

In the letter, he addressed the opposite camp as ‘they’ and further said:”Our thinking is positive, theirs negative...Akhilesh has such people with him who had given their sweat for the party and suffered humiliation for the party; while they have such people with them who have earned thousands of crores of rupees and misused power.”

Signing off the letter, Ramgopal said: “Some people are engaged in issuing statements and misleading (you). There is no need to be misled. Rath yatra (that Akhilesh is due to launch on November 3) is like a fish hook in their throats. You need to sharpen it.”

He added: “Those who are opposing Akhilesh will never get into Vidhan Sabha. Don’t fear, don’t waver. Victory is where Akhilesh is”.

The letter came less than 12 hours after the Samajwadi Party expelled Udaiveer Singh, a leader close to Akhilesh, for anti-party activities, signalling a hardening of the stand against rebels.

Last week too, Ramgopal wrote a letter in which he warned Mulayam that if the party went into oblivion, he (Mulayam) would be responsible and history would not forgive him”.

At 11 am on Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav’s meeting with ministers, MLAs and MLCs began. It was attended by over 40 ministers and over 100 MLAs.

Sources said in all, nearly 180 MLAs met Akhilesh on Sunday, either at the meeting or soon after it.

Most of the young MLAs/ministers made an appeal to Akhilesh to throw the party’s national general secretary Amar Singh out of the SP. Addressing the gathering, Akhilesh said: “I am Netaji’s son. Will always be with him...I have no intention of splitting the party... Whosoever goes with him (Amar Singh), goes out of the government.”

Much to the supporters’ delight, Akhilesh announced the sacking of ministers without taking their name: “I have sent their names to the governor, you will know the names soon.”