Samajwadi party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Monday once again checkmated the rival Samajwadi Party faction led by his brother Shivpal Yadav opposing his son and SP President Akhilesh Yadav by announcing there was no proposal to float a new political party at the moment. It was widely speculated that he will announce the launch of new political party to rehabilitate his brother Shivpal Yadav.
“Akhilesh Yadav is my son so he has my blessings but I do not agree with the series of political decisions taken by him after taking over as the national president of the party’’, said Mulayam Singh here on Monday addressing a press conference at the office of the lohia trust. He is also the chairman of the trust.
Replying to a question that Akhilesh had recently said that he has Mulayams blessings, the Azamgarh MP said ``Putra hain toh ashirvad to hai , lekin unke jo nirnay hain unse hum sehmat nahi hain (He is my son so hehas my blessings. But I am not in agreement with his decisions) Mulayam declined to receal which decision of Akhilesh were not acceptable to him).
“There is no proposal to form a new party... Will let you know when there is any such development,” he said.
Over the past several months, there had been numerous instances when it was perceived that Mulayam and Akhilesh were sparring over the issues of the leadership of the party and its policies. The rivalry has cost Mulayam the post of party president and he has almost been consigned to the political oblivion.
Asked about the promise Akhilesh had made to hand back the reins of the party to him after the assembly elections Mulayam said ``now leave this question, he had said that he will take control of the party for only three months and then give it back. A person who cannot keep his word will never succeed. You must be aware of what the tallest leader of this country had said about this”.
Mulayam later referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement saying,``jo apne baap kaa nahi hua , wo kisi ka nahi ho saktaa (someone who is not faithful to his father cannot be faithful to anyone else).
Mulayam said he will not be going to the party’s national convention at Agra on October 5. Replying to another question he said `` I am with the Samajwazdi party and I am in the SP’’. He said Akhilesh Yadav has himself left the party in a way. He however did not elaborate his comment his comment. Asked about whether there was any possibility of reconciliation in the family Mulayam said `` differences keep occurring between the father and son what can I say on this’’.
Though Mulayam has always publicly supported Shivpal in the running feud with Akhilesh, he has never really executed any step that could impede his son’s hold on the SP or pose a future challenge to his leadership.
Much to the chagrin of the Shivpal camp, SP President Akhilesh Yadav even as the press conference was underway, tweeted from his official handle: “Netaji Zindabad, Samajwadi Party Zindabad.”
Shivpal, who had spoken with Mulayam this morning, was conspicuous by his absence at the press conference. When asked about the whereabouts of Shivpal Yadav, the SP patron said “Shivpal is in Etawah and Mainpuri for some urgent work,”. Shivpal has talked of floating a Samajwadi Front to uphold socialist values after his differences with his nephew, Akhilesh.
In the recent SP state convention held here on Saturday, while Mulayam and Shivpal were not invited, long-time Mulayam aides Beni Prasad Verma and Azam Khan were present on the dais with Akhilesh. This had given credence to the speculation that the so-called SP and Yadav family feud was, in fact, a cleverly crafted script by Mulayam to gradually strengthen Akhilesh’s hold on the party while weeding out all possible thorns in his path.
Mulayam also attacked the Narendra Modi government over its unfulfilled promises and demonitisation causing hardship to common people. He demanded from the prime minister to bring the petroleum products under GST to bring down their price.
“UP government has utterly failed and there is a rise in communalism and law and order has collapsed,” he said while flaying the Yogi Adityanath regime for the lath charge on girls in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the harassment of girl students in hostels.Mulayam further said he had been the UP chief minister thrice and during his tenure, there was an abundant supply of power in both rural and urban areas, however, under Yogi, even lucknow was facing power cuts. He also flayed the state government over the crop loan waiver, saying that the farmers were hoping for the complete waiver of farm loans.