Ramgopal Yadav, cousin of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh, was on Thursday reinstated into the party weeks after being expelled. He would be reinstated with immediate effect, Mulayam Singh said in a letter.
Mr. Ramgopal would continue to serve in his previous posts: leader of SP in Rajya Sabha, party spokesperson, national general secretary and member of party parliamentary board. Welcoming his return, Ramgopal said he never worked against the party.
Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav was on October 23 expelled from the party for six years. He was sacked on the instructions of SP supremo Mulayam Singh, by SP State president Shivpal Yadav, who used his discretionary powers hours after he was unceremoniously removed from the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet in a retaliatory action.
Mr. Ramgopal is a cousin of Mulayam and Shivpal, and considered to play the role of a “think tank”in the party. He has strongly supported Akhilesh Yadav in the entire fiasco and last month in the heat of the family tussle also shot off a letter to party workers endorsing Akhilesh as the future of the SP. Mr. Shivpal Yadav had levelled serious allegations against Mr. Ramgopal, saying he was working as part of a “conspiracy” in collusion with the BJP to weaken the SP and tarnish the Akhilesh Yadav government’s image. Mr. Ramgopal had met thrice with top leaders of the saffron party, Mr. Shivpal said last month, also accusing his cousin of patronising and shielding corrupt elements.
Mr. Ramgopal's entry brings a new dimension to the family struggle in the SP, as he is an opponent of Shivpal. While expelling Mr.Ramgopal, Shivpal Yadav said had accused Ramgopal of trying to save his skin as his son MP Akshay Pratap and daughter-in-law were embroiled in the Yadav Singh corruption case probed by the CBI. “He worked to weaken the party and Netaji,” Mr. Shivpal said.
Mr. Shivpal also said that Ramgopal conspired against him as he had in the past raised voice against his "dictatorial ways" at the party forum. In a revealing claim, Shivpal also blamed Ramgopal for the SP’s breakup from the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar election last year.
