Seeking to send a message of unity in the ruling Samajwadi Party which has been battling a bitter power struggle, four Ministers sacked in October are likely to be reinducted. The Ministers are Shipal Yadav who is also the State president of the party and Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima. The four are likely to be inducted in the Cabinet after the grand rally of the party in Bareilly on December 7.
The four Ministers were sacked by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on October 23, the day he had called the meeting of the party legislators at his official residence. Days after the unceremonious dismissal of the four Ministers, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had said that “he has left the matter of the reinduction of the four Ministers in the Cabinet to the discretion of Akhilesh Yadav’’.
As per the patch formula worked out in the first family of the party Shivpal Yadav is likely to demit the office of the State president of the party. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav or one of his confidants is likely to take over as the State president of the party. The post of the State president is crucial since the State Assembly elections are round the corner and State president has an important role in the selection of the candidates.
Samajwadi Party sources however indicated that it’s a tentative proposal yet to be ratified by the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. The matter was proposed to be discussed in the meeting of the members of the first family of the party here on Thursday. The meeting could not take place due to the pre occupation of the SP supremo in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.
An SP leader privy to the patch up process said “Samajwadi Party is already much behind all other parties in campaigning, the feud in the party has to be settled without any further loss of time”. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while inaugurating the metro rail on Thursday has said that “the election campaign of the Samajwadi Party would began within one hour of the inauguration of the metro rail in lucknow.
The SP leader also said that the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will participate in the rally at Bareilly. Akhilesh had skipped the party’s rally at Ghazipur addressed by the SP supremo on November 23.
Rajendra Chowdhary Cabinet Minister and vice-president of the Janeshwar Mishra trust said that “our target is to prevent BJP from coming to power in the State in the crucial 2017 elections’’. He added “the youth are enthusiastic in the leadership of the Akhilesh Yadav which was palpable during the two rounds of the Rath yatra undertaken by the Chief Minister. He said that the target of the party is to form Government again in 2017. “We want to ensure that BJP should not form Government and SP gets absolute majority once again.” He added that “ all secular people will come together to remove BJP from the country’’.