The marathon meeting between the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav to break the deadlock in the party, facing split, remained inconclusive on Tuesday.
This was the first meeting of Akhilesh with his father after the January 1 national emergency national delegate convention of the Samajwadi party , where the chief minister was elected as the national president of the party while Mulayam was elevated as the `margdarshak’ of the party. The meeting failed to break the ice was evident from the fact that Mulayam Singh Yadav asked Amar Singh to submit a fresh memorandum to the Election commission on Wednesday that the national convention of the party organised here on January 1, was illegal. Mulayam Singh said the convention was ``unconstitutional’ since it was called without his prior approval and he was present in lucknow on that day. Mulayam Singh also said that that it be conveyed to the EC that the memorandum should be treated as submitted by him, the national president of the party.
Mulayam Singh arrived here on Tuesday from Delhi in the morning. He refused to answer the queries by the reporters. Soon after Akhilesh Yadav reached his father’s residence on Vikramaditya marg and both had one to one meeting for over two hours, later Shivpal Yadav and transport minister Gyatri Prajapati also joined the meeting.
On Monday, a day after Akhilesh Yadav seized control of the party and ousted Mulayam Singh as its national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav had approached the Election Commission staking claim on the party poll symbol, the cycle. Mulayam Singh accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and Shivpal Yadav had stressed before the poll panel that the national convention called by Ram Gopal Yadav in lucknow was illegal and unconstitutional. The meeting, between CM and his father sources said, focussed on three issues ``who will have the final say in the distribution of tickets for the assembly elections, the future of Amar Singh and the role of Shviapal Yadav in the party, who was ousted from the post of the state president of the party on January 1. Amar Singh was expelled from the party on January1.
The ruling party sources said Akhilesh Yadav wanted that fresh list of candidates be issued by the party. CM also said that only he and Mulayam Singh should have the role in distribution of tickets. CM also wanted that authority to issue the election symbol be delegated to Ram Gopal Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav also insisted for the expulsion of Amar Singh from the party and banishes Shivpal Yadav from the state affairs of the party and his elevation as the national general secretary of the party. Samajwadi party sources said Akhilesh Yadav is also willing to step down from the post of national president of the party provided his condition about Amar Singh and Shvipal Yadav are accepted by his father. However Mulayam Singh appears reluctant to relent and take the battle to the bitter end.
SP sources said the time is running out for the party and the contentious issues that led to the national convention on January 1 and subsequent developments are not resolved then big trouble is in the store for the party. “The EC can announce the poll schedule for the UP assembly elections any day and if that is announced then the poll panel will hear the dispute in the party only after the polls and in the meantime both the name and the poll symbol of the party could be freezed by the Commission’’, said a senior SP leader.
Meanwhile, Ram Gopal Yadav ruled out the possibility of a compromise saying “no compromise will be made in SP and they will fight the UP elections under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav’’. Ram Gopal had said that, “Election Commission will decide on the fate of the election symbol." He ruled out any compromise at this juncture. Meanwhile sources close to the chief minister said here on Tuesday a senior SP leader and member of Rajya Sabha met Akhilesh Yadav and expressed over the prospects of the party losing the election symbol ahead of the crucial elections. `` This will be disastrous for the party’’, sources said. Sources said CM camp is weighing all options before it. ``It will not only be difficult but amount to `political hara-kiri’ for the chief minister to retreat from the position he has already taken on January 1, which was widely endorsed by the rank and file of the party’’. Another round of negotiations is likely to be held on Wednesday, sources added.