The political deadlock in Samajwadi party following election of the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in the national delegate convention on January 1 continued on Wednesday with no signs of reapproachment among the warring factions led by the father and the son.
The Akhilesh faction declined to initiate fresh talks on Wednesday and ruled out the possibility of the compromise saying they will wait for the verdict of the Election Commission (EC).
Both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav on behalf of Akhilesh Yadav have staked claim before the EC on the party and the election symbol cycle. Sources said the akhilesh faction is confident that the EC will rule in their favour as overwhelming majority of the party MlAs MlC, MPs, members of the national executive and central parliamentary board were with them. They also claimed that there was no legal or any other flaw in organising the national convention which elected Akhilesh Yadav as national president and expelled Amar Singh and sacked Shivpal yadav from the post of state party president.
On Wednesday however emissary of Mulayam Singh, the transport minister Gyatri Prajpati met the chief minister. Urban development minister Azam Khan also met Mulayam Singh Yadav and the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Azam Khan was closeted with Mulayam Singh Yadav for over an hour. The meeting however yielded no result immediately. Azam was instrumental in the revoking of the expulsion of Akhilesh and Ram Gopal on December 31. The political scenario however saw a radical change next day when Akhilesh ousted his father Mulayam Singh Yadav from the post of the national president of the party.
"I spoke to Netaji, he's positive and wants to resolve the issue,” Azam Khan said after he came out meeting with Mulayam Singh on Wednesday. ‘It is good that the father and son had met on Tuesday and several issues were discussed threadbare and I am hopeful that an amicable solution would soon be worked out.
On Wednesday in an important development several ministers from the old guards of the party talked to Mulayam Singh on phone and reportedly expressed their regrets over the present state of affairs in the party ahead of the crucial assembly elections. The prominent among the ministers were Ram Govind Chowdhary, Paras nath Yadav and Ahmed Hasan. Denial of ticket to Ram Govind Chowdhary in the list of 325 candidates announced by Mulayam Singh in last week of December had sparked off the crisis in the party leading to release of a parallel list of over 200 candidates by the chief minister on same day.
The Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav, cousin of the chief minister widely expected to be made state president of the party also met Mulayam Singh Yadav. He is said to unhappy over the selection of Naresh Uttam by Akhilesh Yadav as the state president of the party.
Meanwhile, several leaders, including former Ministers Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai, Ambika Choudhury, Raj Kishore Singh, Shadab Fatima and mafia don Atiq Ahmed met Mulayam at his residence on Wednesday. Shivpal Singh Yadav too was closeted with Mulayam for a couple of hours and both discussed the situation following the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election commission.