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Ajay Uprety
Ajay Uprety

UTTAR PRADESH

Mulayam strongly defends Shivpal, scolds Akhilesh

mulayam-singh-up-pti Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav comes out after meeting at his residence in Lucknow on Sunday | PTI

The Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav strongly supported his younger brother Shivpal Yadav and MP Amar Singh at a crucial meeting of the SP leaders and workers held in Lucknow. He also targeted his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav without naming him. Mulyam has made his stand clear that he would support Shivpal Yadav in the ongoing family feud and has categorically said the party cannot split.

Addressing the SP cadre, he said, “I and Shivpal can never part ways and Amar Singh has helped me on many occasions. Had he not helped me I would have been punished. Amar Singh saved me form going to jail. He is like my brother.”

At the same time, he made it clear that he would not tolerate any kind of rebellion within the party and warned that those raising slogans and indulging in anti-party activities will be expelled from the party. He even defended Mukhtar Ansari and his family by giving them a clean chit. It may be recalled that inclusion of Mukhtar's QED (Quami Ekta Dal) was a major bone of contention in the ongoing feud between Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Indirectly, he criticised the functioning of Akhilesh and his government and said, “After getting the post you have lost control.” Attacking Akhilesh’s youth brigade, he reminded them that during their struggle they had suffered lathi blows. He remarked that those who are shouting slogans now, cannot suffer even one blow. Mulayam became emotional during the speech and said that he was badly hurt by the ongoing feud in the party. In order to assuage the ongoing animosity between uncle and nephew, Mulayam asked them to embrace each other. 

But Shivpal Yadav, before speaking at the meeting, tried to expose Akhilesh by saying, “I swear that Akhilesh had talked about forming the another party.” Without explicitly naming Akhilesh, Shivpal made it clear that his junta would like to contest coming polls under Mulayam and not Akhilesh. He also highlighted the role of Amar Singh and how he helped the party in forming the government in 2003. He said, “Those who are opposing Amar Singh are just a speck of dust in front of him.” 

However, speaking at the meeting earlier, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav slammed Shivpal and said his uncle was conspiring against him and he demanded the right to distribute tickets in the upcoming assembly polls because the polls would be fought on the basis of the work his government did in the past four-and-a-half years. However, he ruled out formation of a new party as Mulayam is his father and teacher. He even revealed that once he offered to resign because of this ongoing in fight in the family.

Today's meeting was important for political circles due to the tug of war in the Yadav family. 

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