Putting all speculations on the chief minister candidate to rest, the Samajwadi Party on Monday made it clear that present chief minister Akhilesh Yadav would continue to be party’s face for the post of CM in the coming assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference at party’s headquarters in Lucknow, SP vice president Kiranmoy Nanda said, “There is no difference of opinion among the party leaders in this regard and the national president Mulayam singh Yadav has himself announced the name of Akhilesh for the chief ministership.”
It may be recalled that Mulayam had said a few days back that the legislative board of the party and other leaders would decide on who would be the chief minster after the elections. Mulayam’s statement had evoked much heat in SP circle and was being viewed as further undermining the authority of Akhilesh Yadav.
Later, Mulayam’s brother and senior party leader Ramgopal Yadav had written an open letter to the party chief in which he strongly advocated the candidature of Akhilesh Yadav for chief ministership. He argued that the party would be able to win the elections only when Akhilesh would be projected as chief minister.
Endorsing Ramgopal’s view, Nanda said there was no confusion about the name of Akhilesh. In the past four years, Akhilesh had done a lot of development work and no other state had witnessed so much of development, he said, adding that there could be no alternative to Akhilesh.
He further said that whatever he was saying in the capacity of vice president of the party had the sanction of the president of the party (Mulayam Singh).
For the past couple of weeks, the SP has been facing worst ever political crisis. The fierce tug of war between Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal Yadav over the control of the party has retarded the speed of cycle (poll symbol of the SP) and adversely affected its poll campaign.
