Lucknow, Sep 16 (The Hindu) : In worsening of the crisis in the ruling SP in Uttar Pradesh, senior leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, who was recently stripped of key ministries by his nephew and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, late on Thursday night resigned from all posts in party and government.
State PWD minister till a few days ago, Shivpal was allotted the social welfare ministry by Akhilesh in a downgrading, after the CM was removed as State president, amid a power struggle in the party involving the two family members.
Shivpal has now quit from the cabinet and also the post of State president, which he was accorded on Tuesday, television reports suggested. However, it was not confirmed if the resignation was accepted. Akhilesh Yadav apparently returned the resignation letters, even as SP leaders remained mum about the development.
The decision came on a day when the SP tried to downplay the ongoing tussles within it and supremo Mulayam Singh even rushed to Lucknow in fire fighting mode. Mulayam first held a close door meeting with Shivpal before calling upon his son. The meeting was speculated to bring an end to the crisis, however, with Shivpal's resignation, the party has its work cut out ahead of the elections as he is considered the most important organizational man in the party.
SP leaders and cadre have been waiting with baited breath the conclusion of the crisis, and sources said, there was a clear confusion in the camps.
Earlier in the day, stepping in to mediate the crisis in the Samajwadi Party, senior SP leader and Raya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav who is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cousin, came out in support of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, saying the party leadership had committed a “mistake,” though not a deliberate one, in sacking his nephew from the post of State president. He blamed the current fiasco on “misunderstandings” and assured it would end in a day or two.
The day’s developments, however, further brought to fore the divisions within the family on the role of Mulayam Singh friend Amar Singh. While Mr. Ramgopal strongly hinted at Amar Singh, with whom he shares a troubled relationship, for fuelling the present crisis in a bid to “damage the party, ” newly appointed SP State president Shivpal Yadav, defended Mulayam’s recent decision to welcome Amar Singh back into the party after a gap of six years. Mr. Shivpal said it was “necessary to take everybody along to strengthen the party” and that one should not get swayed by outsiders but apply “one’s mind too.”
On Wednesday, in a veiled reference to Amar Singh, Akhilesh had blamed “outsiders” for disrupting the functioning of the government, amid a tussle with his uncle and father. Like Akhilesh, neither Ramgopal Yadav nor senior minister Azam Khan share a friendly equation with Amar Singh. While Shivpal and Akhilesh are often seen to be at loggerheads, Ramgopal is said to be in the Akhilesh camp, much like the other younger members of the family. Shivpal is close to Amar Singh, who is an old-Mulayam aide.
Amid speculation that the party could convene a parliamentary board meet to diffuse the present crisis, dismissed later by Mr. Ramgopal as gossip, he met the CM here. Mr. Ramgopal suggested that Akhilesh, who virtually sacked his uncle Shivpal, had “reacted sharply” after he took offence to the manner in which he was removed from the post of party State president. “He should have been asked to resign. Could he have said no to Netaji,” Mr. Ramgopal asked, adding that he would urge his nephew to speak to the party boss to end the impasse. Ramgopal defended Akhilesh’s right to be assertive. “It is not unnatural that a CM of a state like Uttar Pradesh takes some decisions on his own. It is natural... he should take decisions“.
In an attack on Amar Singh, Mr. Ramgopal said some leaders had taken “unfair advantage” of Mulayam’s amiable nature over the years and were damaging the party. Asked if he meant Amar Singh, he said, “that’s what most of the party workers and people think.”
Akhilesh Yadav had sacked the UP chief secretary Deepak Singhal after he had apparently attended a party in Delhi thrown by Amar Singh. Moreover, hours after Amar Singh had met Mulayam Singh in Delhi, Akhilesh Yadav’s was removed as State head. Amar Singh, has however, denied his role in the controversy, saying Akhilesh was like a “son” to him.
With reference to Amar Singh, Mr. Shivpal Singh earlier in the day, said “joining hands brings strength to the organization,” and that nobody in the SP had the right to reject the supremo’s decision. “Who joins, who leaves, nobody has the right to decide except Netaji.”
Stripped of key ministries, Mr. Shivpal had earlier in the day said he would carry out his new responsibility with diligence and contended he had no problem with Akhilesh as CM candidate next year , if “Netaji decides” as much. There have been speculation that Shivpal wants Mulayam to take over the CM post.
Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati criticized the SP for the ongoing “drama” and said it was orchestrated by Mulayam Singh to divert people’s attention. Even "if there was an element of truth in the divisions within the SP, then Mulayam Singh should retire from active politics and "discard his love for his son" or putrmoh in public interest, Ms. Mayawati said.
Remarking that the SP had become a “cinemawadi party” BJP State president Keshav Prasad Maurya said there was no dispute between Akhilesh and Shivpal and the current episode was a “well-thought out political drama.”