: Amid internal tussles, the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh on Friday put up a show of unity as cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav called upon Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in an apparent bid to bury their differences.
The two leaders held a discussion in a near hour-long meeting at the CM’s official residence here. The timing of the meeting is being viewed as the SP’s attempt to neutralise criticism over its apparent internal wrangling, especially involving members of the ruling Yadav clan. The meeting was called at the behest of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, sources said, as he feared the cracks within the party could hurt its 2017 election campaign.
Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Mr. Shivpal denied there were differences within the Yadav family, even as he lavished praise on his nephew, saying the Akhilesh Yadav government would be re-elected to power in 2017. The senior minister and brother of Mulayam Singh said he and the CM held joint responsibilities in the government and would “work together.”
“We discussed many issues. Akhilesh’s government has done a lot of work. And it will return to power,” Mr. Shivpal Singh said at his residence later.
Since only the two leaders were privy to the meeting, its content could not be known, but some indicators emerged as, moments after the discussion, the party changed its election candidate in Etah district’s Amanpur seat. The SP replaced Virendra Solanki, the candidate it had nominated earlier, with Rajesh Pandey. The decision was taken after Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s “request” to Mr. Shivpal Singh on the “directives” of the party supremo, said the party’s state general secretary Arvind Singh Gope in a statement.
The rivalry between the uncle and his nephew is not new and Mr. Shivpal Singh is often blamed by Opposition parties for his interventionism. The cracks re-surfaced recently after the PWD minister, while expressing concern over cases of land-grabbing by party workers and musclemen within the SP, said he would not allow common people to be harassed even if it required him to resign.
Alarmed by the statement, the SP supremo in his Independence Day speech caused a flutter after he came to his brother’s defence and said that a few people were against him. If his brother resigned, the SP would split, the party chief asserted, in what is believed to be a warning to his son.
Speculations escalated as the CM maintained his silence over the issue even as his uncle, a senior minister, was conspicuous by his absence at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
