Ugly scenes as Akhilesh, Shivpal supporters come face to face

The feud in Yadav family took an ugly turn on Friday when supporters of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav came face to face at the party headquarters.

Slogans like ‘Akhilesh zindabad’ and ‘UP ki majboori hai, Shivpal zaroori hai’ continued to rend the air as the protest turned into a show of strength from both the sides.

While tempers soared, the cavalcade of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav entered the party office averting any physical clash.

As Mulayam entered the party office, speculation started doing the rounds that Akhilesh may take over as national president of the party.

There was speculation that Shivpal wanted the post of deputy chief minister for his son Aditya Yadav, who has been with him ever since the trouble began.

Earlier in the morning, some supporters were heard shouting: “Ramgopal ko kinarey karo, Netaji gaddi sambhalo” (sideline Ramgopal Yadav, Mulayam take over as CM).

Later, Shivpal asked his supporters to march to the party headquarters and hold demonstration there. While he spoke, his staff distributed T-shirts with his image printed on it.

Earlier in the night, Shivpal told his supporters: “Go to bed. I will sleep too”. The supporters, however, replied in unison: “Na soenge, na soney denge” (We won’t sleep, we will give sleepless night to others).

In Mainpuri, Shivpal’s supporters staged a protest at Christian College crossing and demanded sacking of Ram Gopal Yadav.

Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of Shivpal Yadav blocked the national highway in his constituency Jaswant Nagar seeking restoration of their leader’s dignity.

Markets remained closed in Jaswantnagar and protesters, including women and children, blocked the Delhi highway for about an hour. They shouted slogans against the chief minister.

Protests were also reported from Mainpuri.