Mulayam calls for party unity, blames Ramgopal for troubles
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Wednesday he would not allow the party he built over three decades to spilt, as he again blamed cousin Ramgopal for the party’s troubles.
The 77-year-old’s call for unity comes a day after his son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav refused to give the party control back to his father, dimming hopes of a reconciliation.
“I don’t want the party to split, the party should always be united,” Mulayam told party workers in Lucknow. “Ramgopal Yadav wanted to form a new party - ‘Akhil Bhartiya Samajwadi Party - with motorcycle as the symbol.”
With state due to hold first of its seven rounds of polling for the state assembly on February 11, the factional fight is increasingly looking unbridgeable, with both sides making competing claims for the party symbol – a bicycle.
The former UP chief minister said he had declared Akhilesh the party’s CM candidate. “Then what’s the need for a new party?” he said. Blaming cousin Ramgopal for the family feud, Mulayam said he was aware at whose behest he was acting.
Without naming BJP chief Amit Shah, Mulayam said he knew Ramgopal had met his political opponent thrice to “save” his son and daughter in-law in a case being investigated by the CBI.
Ramgopal has backed Akhilesh in his battle for control of the party and a greater say in poll candidates with his uncle Shivpal, who enjoys Mulayam’s support. Ramgopal was the one to ask the election commission for a new name and symbol. “He can have his motorcycle… but I want to save our cycle and will not allow anyone to split party,” Mulayam said.
He has petitioned the poll panel that he was still the SP president and should be allotted the party symbol.
The poll panel has called both warring factions in Delhi on January 13 to take a call on the symbol. In a meeting with Mulayam on Tuesday, Akhilesh had refused to step down as the party president and also turned down his father’s proposal that both the factions withdraw applications submitted to the EC.