The feud in Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh's ruling party, appeared to be worsening, with an unhappy Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday meeting legislators who have not found place in the list of 325 declared candidates and then conveying his objections to his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had announced the nominees on Wednesday.
Hectic political activities began on Thursday morning with party leaders gathering outside the residences of Mr. Akhilesh and Mr. Mulayam. A big crowd assembled outside the residence of Shivpal Yadav, Mr. Akhilesh's uncle and Mr. Mulayam's brother.
Mr. Akhilesh, clearly upset with being apparently kept out of the process to select candidates for the coming Assembly polls, met his supporters, including legislators and office-bearers who do not figure in the list, party sources said.
Later, he spoke to Mr. Mulayam to convey his displeasure with the list of candidates from which names of his close confidants are missing, the sources said.
Mr. Mulayam, along with Mr. Shivpal, on Wednesday declared candidates for 325 of the 403 Assembly seats in the State and ruled out projecting Mr. Akhilesh as the chief ministerial candidate.
Mr. Akhilesh was away on Bundelkhand tour when the list was released at a hurriedly-convened press conference. The Chief Minister and Mr. Shivpal have been involved in a power struggle for several months now.
The list, which includes 176 sitting MLAs, announced by Mr. Mulayam and Mr. Shivpal, has left out several pro-Akhilesh Ministers, including Ram Govind Chaudhary, Pawan Pandey and Arvind Singh Gope, and does not carry names of over 50 sitting MLAs.
Besides, 10 Ministers, including Mr. Shivpal, sacked by the Chief Minister over the past few months have got ticket.
Within hours after release of the list, Mr. Akhilesh said he would take up the choice of candidates with the party chief.
“The list does not include names of certain candidates who are sure to win. I will take it up with the SP chief and tell him that some of them have done really good work and they should be given ticket,” Mr. Akhilesh said on Wednesday night.
In a late night tit-for-tat, the Chief Minister struck back, sacking two Shivpal loyalists — Surabhi Shukla, vice-chairperson of UP Awas Vikas Parishad and her husband Sandeep Shukla from the post of adviser to Rajkiya Nirman Nigam. Sandeep has been fielded for the Sultanpur Sadar seat.
